Dark Matter
by Goldielochs
Summary: Edward has just risked his identity to save Bella from the errant truck in the school parking lot. On edge and worried that his actions have revealed too much of their existence to the vulnerable girl, the Cullens have a formal meeting to discuss their next steps, forgetting to include the opinions of the most important person. Canon vampires. Bella x Edward
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.**

 **Author's note: Hi! It's. . . been a while. Like always this story kept bugging me. This has actually been stewing in my noggin the longest of ANY of my stories and it has been the MOST intrusive. Even when I was working on the first draft of my novel I kept thinking about this story. So I realized that I can't really focus on my actual writing work until I get this out of my head and on to paper. I can't even think about my other fanfiction stories because this one won't give me the mental space.**

Like a lot of my fanfiction ideas, it spirals out of the car accident scene in Twilight, but takes a turn. And like a lot of my Twilight musings, I love the "meeting" scene the Cullens have afterward that we see in Midnight Sun.

 _Summary: Edward has just risked his identity to save Bella from the errant truck in the school parking lot. On edge and worried that his actions have revealed too much of their existence to the vulnerable girl, the Cullens have a formal meeting to discuss their next steps_

So, without further ado:

* * *

 **Dark Matter**

Chapter 1

* * *

The sound of Edward's fist on the dinner table echoed in the sudden silence. His eyes were dark as he challenged Jasper. Jasper tilted his head, and reached out with his special ability, testing Edward's resolve. Surprised by what he felt in Edward, Jasper stepped back and processed, knowing that Edward would be following along. Until then, he had been dead set on his course. Whatever happened tonight, despite Carlisle and Rosalie's argument and then agreement, he was going to kill her - Kill the girl Edward foolishly protected. He would do what had to be done. Jasper always had. When your life and your men and your survival depend on it, you do everything by the book. And the book says that there can be no doubt - There can be no witnesses.

But Edward would fight him. He could see that now. When he would go out later and finish the job, Edward. . . would stop him. Try to stop him. If he went out at all. As he stared at Edward, he wavered. _I'm doing this for you. For all of us._

Edward shook his head. "No one touches her." He mostly growled through over his teeth.

"Edward-." Esme leaned forward. She was used to her family fighting, but this wasn't the usual spat. Edward was usually one of the mediators. She thought this argument died when Carlisle spoke his peace, that they weren't going to hurt the human girl, that every life mattered. Of course, this was the girl that Edward had been trying so hard not to kill. Even to her, she thought it might be easier perhaps. . . if-. Now Edward was glaring at her. _Well, I just don't want you to stress over her. I don't want you feel too much pressure. Just don't leave._

Edward rubbed his temples. "I won't. I have to stay." He glared at Jasper again. Stay to protect her from Jasper. He could see it clearly. Jasper's plans to silently enter the Swan residence in the deepest part of the night. Jasper rising above her as she slept. Jasper "righting Edward's wrongs."

Edward felt a swell of anger, again surprising both himself and his brother who could taste it like a sixth sense. _Why?_ Jasper posed the question he knew Edward could hear.

It was a question, Edward didn't have an answer for.

Carlisle sat forward, feeling the need to intercede. "Like I said. We won't risk who we are for what we are. If we kill innocence to protect ourselves, what are we to protect?"

Jasper didn't pay attention to Carlisle. He and Edward were alone in this. This was their fight. This wasn't about morality. This was something else. Would he have to hurt Edward? There are ways to break vampires without destroying them. His time tearing apart newborns quickly fluttered through his mind. The times were they didn't burn their bodies and he watched as the pieces sealed themselves up again. _It will hurt._

"I don't think I'd fall so easy." Edward said through gritted teeth. The last time they fought, even just rough housing, it was almost always a draw. Edward did have the advantage, but not the experience.

 _She knows too much, Edward._ Jasper didn't relish the thought of a fight with Edward.

"She didn't say anything. She didn't say anything at the hospital. Even when I confronted her."

"Of course not. She's scared." Jasper stomped forward. "She saw you fly across the parking lot, of course she didn't say anything. I felt her fear. She knows too much and it's-"

"You don't know why she was afraid. It could have just been shock from the accident."

Jasper shook his head and nearly reared back into position. "It wasn't shock. Edward. She knows too much."

"Boys." Carlisle stood to his feet now, his tone more severe than anyone had ever heard from him in some time. "Listen to me-"

Alice shrieked. _-Oh! Shit. I was too focused on Jasper.-_

Edward blinked, breaking his staring contest with Jasper. Jasper whipped his head around and found Alice. She raised a light fingered hand to his face and stroked his cheek, calming the lines etched into his skin there and whispered quietly. "Behave."

Then they all heard it. A car's motor revving up the twisting turns of their drive way. As the tires rolled up to the black top concrete pad, the dinning room fell completely motionless. Edward was lost in the frantic thoughts, losing his own in the cacophony. It was Charlie Swan's cruiser. Carlisle straightened out first and fixed the collar around his neck. It was late. Whatever Charlie might want at this hour was urgent.

"Charlie?" Carlisle confirmed lowly as the car parked.

Edward was paralyzed. Alice shook her head. "No."

"No?" Esme's lips barely opened. Then the cruiser door opened and shut. And the footfalls even from outside, they all could register they didn't belong to Charlie.

Again they froze. She walked to the door and her hand knocked on the wood paneling importantly.

"Behave." Carlisle said, slightly in a daze to his family. The message meant for the only other two people standing. He swung the door open. "Bella." He greeted. "Is everything okay?"

Bella pulled down the red hood of her hoodie over her forehead and breathed in the cool night air on the porch. A black turtleneck peeked out from the opening of the hoodie. underneath and dark jeans. She shifted on her feet. "I'm sorry to intrude. May I come in?"

"Now's not a good time." Carlisle said quickly as Bella edged closer to him, stepping up to the threshold. Bella walked in regardless, somber and eyes on the floor.

"Are you having a meeting?" She peered around the living room into the dinning room. "Good." Bella nodded. "Then I made it just in time."

Carlisle blocked her from heading in. "Bella, it's late. And you hit your head. I think you should go home."

"I will. But I think if you're going to have a meeting on whether or not to kill me, I think you're going to want to hear what I have to say."

Carlise's mouth fell open.

"Then you are discussing it." Bella breathed. "Good." She said emotionless. "That's good. I wouldn't expect anything else." She stepped around Carlisle who's shocked expression was still frozen into place.

The dinning room was momentarily transformed into a lovely but peculiar statue garden. Bella pulled out the empty chair, where a moment before Edward had been sitting, and gripped the arms of it. She took a deep breath. "I'm going to receive a phone call in ten minutes. If I don't answer it, then there will be severe consequences." As she moved to sit down, Bella reached into her hood and unhooked the chain around her neck. She let the necklace drop to the table and the chain slide between her fingers. The loud gem stone clunked and clinked.

Jasper let out a low breath. Rosalie turned to him, her eyes fierce, but nothing in Jasper's expression answered her question.

Jasper glanced at her and Emmett before settling back on the necklace. Carlisle finally came in again, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, then they relaxed again as he saw the necklace.

"You know the Volturi?" Carlisle asked calmly.

"I am with the Volturi." Bella stated and waited a beat before continuing. "And if I don't answer the phone in ten minutes, they will come looking for me."

"We won't harm you."

"I'm sure." Bella grinned sadly. "But you'll understand that I have safe guards in place. I know better than to walk into a room of vampires unprepared." Bella said quickly, barely moving her head. "My father's car also has a geo-locator, the coordinates are sent to a secured survey. Obviously, you can move it, but they'll know I've been here."

"Does your father know you're here."

"No. And I'd like to keep it that way for his sake."

"Wait. How are you with the Volturi?" Rosalie folded her arms across her chest. Skepticism in her tone.

Bella started to wrap up the chain that held the Volturi's symbol around her index finger. She ignored Rosalie. "I understand that you had bit of a slip up today in the rules of the Volturi. Albeit in my defense. So I came here to let you know that, in this instance, it's okay to bend the rules."

Rosalie didn't like this one bit. "How do we know you're really with the Volturi?" She said with her nose upturned. Carlisle glanced at her meaningfully.

Bella nearly laughed. "Do you think I would wear their insignia and be allowed to live if it weren't under their command." Bella looked up from her hood for the first time and looked at Rosalie.

Carlisle cleared his throat, unnecessarily, but out of habit for making humans feel more comfortable. "We understand, Bella. We respect the Volturi and those. . . those with them. May I ask, in what capacity-"

"No." Bella shook her head. "All you need to know is that if I went missing, if something happened to me, there wouldn't be a war. There wouldn't be a loud clash. Your deaths would be sealed. Your destruction would be quick and silent."

Jasper squeezed Alice's hand. This is exactly what he feared, but not at all what he expected. He's seen the vampires that are "with the Volturi." At the end of the battle, cleaning up the messes, making sure there were no stragglers. They were cold, pointed, powerful. He couldn't understand this. . . Bella. . . the girl that his brother nearly ripped into in front of a full classroom. The girl that he risked them all too again today. She was. . . siding herself with that group. The insignia on the necklace. It was on the robes of the enforcers. He tried to figure out what it could mean for her to have it. For her to know. And for her to be here now.

Alice closed her eyes. "It's fine." She muttered under her breath too quick for human ears.

"I know you have questions." Bella breathed evenly. "You must understand that I'm not at liberty to say much. Only very few people know of my existence within the organization. Not even the full guard knows. That's why I needed to speak to all of you in person." She glanced around the room and noted the absence of Edward. "I know that Edward is listening. My involvement with the Volturi is on a need to know basis. Of course, I assumed you would be discussing whether or not Edward exposed too much of his vampire nature to me today and if you should act on it. So, it became apparent that you need to know a few things about me. And I need to know that I will have your cooperation and your word that this doesn't leave this house. That whatever happens, whether you kill me or not, that you won't tell anyone about me. Not any friends you may have acquired over the years or other vampires you have met. Not anyone."

"Why would the Volturi want _you_?" Emmett asked bluntly. "I don't get it. Am I missing something? Why would the Volturi want to keep you around?"

"For my wit and conversation obviously." Bella smiled wickedly. "That's a joke." She added, when Emmett obviously thought she was serious.

"Then you work for them?" Jasper narrowed his eyes. Bella met his with a steely resolve. After an intense stare down Jasper looked away.

"No." Bella finally responded. "I'm not one of the _Karens._ If that's what you're asking." A small sound of disgust popped in the back of her throat.

"Karens?" Carlisle asked.

"Oh yeah. The uh. . . well, the humans they have that work for them in the vaults. They promise them eternal life and let them do all the mundane administrative work for free. I just call them Karens because through the years, there's been too many of them to keep up with. It's best not to get too attached to them. They're actually stupid enough to believe they would ever change them." Bella rolled her eyes. "Sorry. I forgot you actually like humans."

"And you don't?" Carlisle asked, his face serene, caring.

Bella tilted her head. "I must be strange to you."

"No."

"I suppose-" Bella shrugged. "Living as I have, I'm probably pretty messed up. Living with vampires, right? Seeing the worst of the world that my kind turns a blind eye too. That's pretty fucked up as it is. I mean. The fact that I came in here. . . in a room of 6 vampires. Knowingly. That's probably very strange." She sighed. "Don't misunderstand. I know the risks. It's just that, I'm not afraid of death. I've been staring down the barrel of my gun for awhile now. You get used to living on the edge and you start to hear echos of the trigger before it gets pulled. And then you miss the sound of the bang. I know what I look like to you. Another human. Doomed, perhaps. Either way, it's the will of Volturi. Whether they want me dead or not, that is for them to decide."

She took another glance at Jasper. He blinked away again.

"Through the years." Esme muttered something Bella had said. "How long exactly have you been with- with the Volturi?"

Bella sighed. "That's need to know. And you don't need to know that. I know the risks of coming here tonight, but be assured, the danger I've put you in are perhaps much worse." Bella's subtle threats were so strange to half the room. A small, frail, powerless human, threatening their family. Threatening with the only thing that could possibly be large enough to tear them apart.

"Does your father know?" Esme asked kindly. Her eyes were big, only full of concern for Bella. She still couldn't imagine anything jeopardizing her family, especially not from a little girl.

Bella was brought up short. "Does my father know what?"

"About the Volturi."

"No." Bella shook her head frantically. "And he mustn't." Her words were sharp.

"And your mother?" Esme asked, still as kind and generous.

"No." Bella eased back into her chair. She hesitated for a moment, deciding on what information she could give. "She's dead."

"I'm so sorry." Esme almost reached out to her, in comfort. Bella shied away, confused by the gesture.

"It's- it's okay. I didn't really know her." Bella shuffled, uncomfortable for the first time. And then she went rigid. Her shoulders slumped forward and her eyes wrinkled tightly closed. Carlise almost bounded to his feet to help her, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong. After a second, Bella straightened out again. "He's early." She muttered. And as if on cue, the cell phone in her hoodie pocket began to ring.

"Do we have a deal?" Bella asked Carlisle. "I walk away unharmed. No one touches me. No one speaks of this meeting. And I'll make sure the Volturi never hear about it either."

"Of course." Carlisle agreed without hesitation. "You have my word."

"Do you speak for every one." She said. The phone continued to ring and she held it like a weapon. Each ring, cutting further down into their skin.

"Yes. I speak for my whole family."

Bella sighed. An unusual expression on her face as she answered the phone. "Ciao, Felix. Le volpi stanno dormendo. Sette tazze di vino scuro nella notte. È stato un equivoco. Ti parleró dopo. Più tardi, Felice. Addio."

She hung up the phone. "Well," Bella breathed. "If you want to take back what you said and kill me know, it's your chance."

"Bella," Carlisle said slowly. "I actually used to be friends with the brothers. Back in the day, I spent a decade or two with them." He wasn't sure if this would be any usual information.

"You know Aro?" Bella perked up.

"Yes, which is why." Carlisle started slowly. "You said, you'd keep this meeting a secret from even them. But I'm not sure if you know this, but Aro. . ."

"Don't worry about it." Bella grinned. "One of my many talents is that I'm an excellent secret keeper. But you were with the Volturi?" She changed the subject quickly.

"Well, I was a companion. I spent my time with them, but I never joined their ranks."

"Why?" Bella tilted her head.

"We disagreed on the philosophies of life. About the compassion towards humans." Carlisle explained. "They never understood why I abstained from- well."

"From human blood." Bella finished for him without batting an eye.

"Yes." Carlisle winced, not used to speaking so candidly about their darkest nature to their normal prey.

"Carlisle." Bella closed her eyes. "Carlisle." She said again, then she popped her eyes open. "You're THE Carlisle?" She nearly tipped her chair over. Her face entirely changed, braking from it's emotionless stupor. "You don't understand. They told stories about your adventures together like fairy tales when I was - when I was younger. Oh my gosh." Bella took a moment to collect herself, as if she had just realized she was sitting next to a celebrity. "You're the Carlisle that went with my un - went with the three brothers to Everest and skinny dipped down into the Mariana trench?"

Emmett and Esme bursted out laughing. "What?"

Carlisle was a bit puzzled. "They told you that?"

Bella cooled down again. "I'm good at keeping secrets, but I'm better at extracting them." She stood up from her chair. "I'm sorry. I should go. I've overstayed my welcome."

"No. It's okay."

"I should go." Bella yanked the necklace from the table. "I know Edward is listening. I also wanted to tell him. I wanted to tell you, Edward. She said, speaking into the wood floor. "I wanted to say thank you. What you did today, for me. A stranger. I'm not sure why you did it. But I'm grateful. And the Volturi will be too, if they find out about what you've done. You won't be punished for your actions. You should be rewarded. No matter my fate, I'll make sure of that." She turned to Carlisle professionally. "Thank you for your time. I'm sorry for, well, for threatening you, but I hope you understand."

"Bella, no need to apologize." Carlisle said.

"You have a lovely home." Bella glanced around and a smile twitched at her lips. "It's quite different from the underground passageways back home."

As Bella stepped back into the living room towards the door, Jasper ran up to her.

"Jasper." Alice hissed.

"Did they send you here to spy on us?" Jasper asked lowly, his face dark.

"What?" Bella asked, not even flinching.

"They let you, a human, walk away to live here. Where one of the largest clans of vegetarian vampires is settled. Are you here to spy on us?"

Bella looked Jasper up and down, sizing him up. "What war were you in?" She asked bluntly.

"What?"

"What war were you in?" She asked curiously. "You hold yourself like a soldier. You have the scars, even I can see them."

Jasper stood up taller.

"It's okay." Bella smiled, sensing his hesitation. "Do you really think they'd let a human spy on a group of 7 vampires, vegetarian or not? Believe me, I'm just as blown away at the coincidence. I can't seem to escape you lot. I suppose Aro is right. Something about manifest destiny." Bella sighed, and the circles under her eyes deepened.

"It's late." Carlisle walked between Jasper and Bella. "You should sleep."

"Yeah. Wouldn't you know it, I have insomnia. Nightmares." Bella said, lazily. "I suppose that's only natural." She yawned. "Goodbye, Cullens. It's been a pleasure. But I got to return the cop car before Charlie gets up."

And then Bella turned around and headed out the front door. Seven pairs of honey colored eyes watched as she drove back down the winding driveway. One pair followed her in the forest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: don't own these characters.**

 **Author's note: Happy Christmas. Imagine this is wrapped in a bow. I made this for you!  
** **Thank you for reading! Thank you for reviewing.**

 **xoxo**

 **\- Rosalie**

* * *

 **Dark Matter**

Chapter 2

* * *

Alice closed her eyes. When she returned to the real world and reached out to catch Edward before he left, she was too late. She spent too much time in the future, and paid for it in the present.

"Edward?" She voiced. His scent like a ghost, a trail of where he had been. A trail following after her. Had he seen what she had?

Then familiar comforting hands rubbed circle between her shoulder blades. He always knew. Jasper was always there when she felt lost, discombobulated by the ever changing future playing out in her mind. Something was changing, it ebbed and flowed, the future looking more like an ink blot test.

"I'm so sorry." Alice mumbled. "I didn't see her. I should have seen this. It's what I'm supposed to do."

"It's not often someone surprises you." Jasper continued to rub her back. "It's okay. Right? It's not your fault."

"I shouldn't have been so focused. We could have been better prepared." Alice shook her head, upset with herself. Jasper reached out and turned the dial on her emotions, loosening her from her own self doubt.

"Please, Alice." Carlisle turned from the open door towards her. "She surprised all of us. I don't think anyone could have seen that coming, not even you."

Nullified, Alice took in a deep sigh, and finally allowed Jasper to help regulate her emotions, but she continued to sulk in the corner regardless.

Emmett too, turned from the front of the house, still staring off at where Bella had been. "That is one brave human." He muttered. "She just. . . walked in here. Knowing we were thinking about killing her."

"That was never a true option." Carlisle interrupted. Jasper looked at the ground in shame.

"Knowing that we were all vampires. I mean, shit, folks here don't even want to come over and they just think we're snooty well to do folks."

"Language." Esme sighed. She liked having company over, vampire or otherwise, but a humans natural response to shy away from them left her feeling most isolated in social spaces. "But, yes. She is very brave."

"Or she has nothing left to lose." Rosalie shrugged, unimpressed with Bella's presence. If anything, she just complicated their lives. Anyone that jeopardized their ability to live naturally within human society was a marked enemy. From day one, Bella had been on that list. She was still there. This changed nothing in her outlook.

"What do you mean?" Esme asked her.

"I don't know. It kind of sounded like she was expecting us to kill her and then almost disappointed when we didn't. I mean, if she really is with the Volturi, then why the hell is she here? Alone."

"Language." Esme breathed. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"Do you think she's on the run?" Emmett flexed his arms across his chest. "Like, she escaped or something?"

Carlisle raised his eyebrow. "A human escaping the Volturi? There's not even a vampire that could do such a thing against the will of the Volturi."

"So what does this mean?" Emmett asked.

Carlisle closed his eyes deep in the thought. Remembering all his time with the night patrons of the art. All their talks on philosophy on life, on imortality, on humans, on gifts, on leadership. Everything. All of it. Aro's enthusiasm. Marcus's quiet but meaningful comments. Caius's devil's advocate on either side of the argument at hand. Their wives playful banter. Sulpicia always taking Aro's side. Athenendora rolling her eyes at her husband's arguments and recusing herself from conversation. Their time in extravagance, luxury in the highest. Friends, he considered them. But he realized now that they considered themselves as more, as royalty. Carlisle was always just a foreigner in their presence. An exotic scholar to engage with to pass the time. Another luxury. Carlisle came to them after the dust had settled, before the southern wars had started, and centuries after their last battle against the Romanian coven. A time of peace and prosperity. He didn't know them in either reign of terror, but he knew them to be shrewd protector's of the life style. Where he, Carlisle, saw faults in their vampirism, the Volturi found gifts to celebrate and protect. And they claimed the title as best fit to protect it.

Jasper knew the other side of them. The hand of the Volturi was quick and judgement final. He never saw the three pillars personally. But he knew their guard well enough. Felix was their strongman. Though all were highly skilled in combat, Felix was your man in a fight. Jasper caught his name when Bella answered the phone. He thought there was no equal to his strength until he met Emmett. Demitri was the skilled tracker. With him, no one was out of their reach or beyond finding. And of course-the twins. He'd only ever seen one of them at a distance. Short. Child like. But the most terrible of them all. There were more, but these names were permanent fixtures in the guard. An honor to serve, but a privilege to be kept and favored. As a soldier, Volturi meant death. The guard meant death. There was no greater power. The guard wasn't called unless it was necessary. Sometimes remaining dormant for decades on decades, but when called upon, they were trained in terror with virtually no weaknesses.

Neither Jasper or Carlisle could explain why Bella wore their insignia.

xoxoxo

Bella turned the headlights off when she neared the house and crept into the driveway, turning the engine off as soon as possible. She squeezed out of the door between the red truck next to where she parked and as quietly as possible, closed the car door. The flood lights turned on when she walked up to the porch and she froze, thinking she had been caught out, before remembering they were on a sensor. Before she got to the door, her phone rang. "Unknown" flashed up in the dark of the night. She checked the time, nearly 2am, but her nerves rattling. She sighed and answered dully. "Ciao." She hopped up on the tire of the red truck and awkwardly pushed herself over the lip of the truck bed. She sat, knees up, with her back against the cab's windows.

"Bella Bella." Felix greeted on the other line, reserved undertones slipping between his teeth. "How is the wildlife?" He asked in Italian.

"I wouldn't know." Bella answered the key phrase. "I see none."

"And how much have you had to drink?" Felix asked the second secret question.

"I'm too young to drink." Bella laughed at her own joke. She could almost hear Felix roll his eyes.

"And how much have you had to drink?" He asked again more forcefully.

"Zero wine." She answered dutifully.

There was a sigh of relief on the other end. "You worried me."

"I know." Bella raised a hand to her forehead. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called. It was a false alarm."

"You know that if it were up to me-" Felix started.

"I know, I know." Bella nodded. "If it were up to you, I would have been changed four years ago." She rolled her eyes but ended up staring up at the night sky. There was a clear patch through the dark clouds, and she could just make out a smattering of stars. Of all the places and depths in the universe, she lived in this world and looked up at these stars, alone with everything pressed against her. "I hear that a lot."

"I'm sorry." Felix admitted.

"No one's more sorry than Alec." Bella sighed and lowed down further in the truck.

"No." He agreed. "Why did you call me?"

"What do you mean?" Bella found the patch of sky again and tried to see the whole map of stars behind the clouds. She wondered what the night sky looked like back home, on the other hemisphere.

"Why didn't you just call-"

"Because." Bella blurted out, racking her brain for an excuse. "Because I trust you and Demi." She shrugged, close enough. "And don't lie. I know you told him."

There was a pause. "You didn't want to go directly to Aro or Marcus." Felix disregarded her comment. "Bella, you called me for a kill trigger. You can't just say nothing happened, or 'I'm fine.' This isn't a game. I was ready to initiate the full guard."

"I know it's not a game." Bella hissed. "The trigger call was a mistake. I shouldn't have- I just, I just got scared for a second, but everything is fine."

"Bella." He said incredulously. "You said you were in the midst of seven vampires."

"Calm. Collected ones. I also told you, there wasn't any danger."

He took a long deep breath. "Marcus isn't going to like this."

"Marcus doesn't like anything." Bella replied.

There was a long pause. For a moment, Bella thought their phone disconnected. Then his voice spoke again. "So how are they?"

"The nightmares?" She rubbed her head. "Okay, I suppose."

"Bella Bella, tell me, are you okay?"

"Yes." Bella huffed, hating being treated like a child, as less than. "I can take care of myself."

"I don't doubt that."

"Sure you do." Bella countered. "You all do."

"Bella Bella." Felix sighed. "Humans are so fascinating."

"I'm tired." Bella grumbled, her mood nose dived into sourness. "It's very late. I promise, I'm fine but I gotta go."

"They're going to be mad at me." He said quickly.

"You can take care of yourself." Bella rolled her eyes and then hung up. Quickly she removed the SIM card from the phone and snapped it in-between her thumb and forefinger. She scooted down further into the truck bed till she was horizontal, looking up at the night sky. She yawned again and reached her hand behind her head. After a moment of star gazing her eyelids pulled close. It wasn't raining, but there was a soft mist that felt good on Bella's face. The odd croaks and shuffling in the forest out back were more like a lullaby to her than anything to raise alarm. She didn't scare easy.

"Bella?" The screen door swung open and so too did Bella's eyelids. Forgetting momentarily where she was, she bolted up right. She stared at the grooves of the truck bed underneath her fist for a long movement before she was able to answer.

"Yes. Charlie, I'm here." Her voice was groggy, a film coated her throat from sleeping outside. "I couldn't sleep, so I just came out here." The fog finally cleared and she was surprised that she had actually fallen asleep.

"You okay? I heard a noise and came to check on you but you weren't in your room." Charlie asked, his burly form stepping closer, his shadowy figure outlines by the golden light from the flood lights. He wasn't sure what was normal for teenage girls. He and Renee snuck out as teenagers, but Bella didn't go very far and she at least seemed to be a lone. He peered across the truck bed, out of habit, expecting someone else to be with her. "It's pretty cold out." He commented eventually. "Don't want you to get sick."

"Oh?" Bella reached out her hand, as if to sample the temperature. "I guess I just got used to it." She said while climbing back over the lip of the truck. "You know, I'm not feeling very well. My head." She touched it gingerly.

xoxoxo

Edward was late to his first period. He waited under the awning of building 2 until the last second, hoping that she decided to come today. Alice wasn't very helpful, she kept saying that she wouldn't come, but she also had visions that she would. Still, he wanted her to. He wanted to see her, as if to make sure she wasn't just a figment of his imagination as it felt whenever she wasn't there. He followed her last night back to her house. The SIM card she threw out was in his coat pocket. A keepsake more than something he would use. He watched her drift off to sleep. Worried, he woke Charlie up by throwing things at the wall outside his bedroom so that he could get Bella back inside.

Carlisle told him to stay away from her, and truly he should, he knew that, but he just couldn't help it. She was not what he expected. She was special, but he didn't know how and the mystery of it didn't sit well with him. All day he kept hoping that she would show up. Even just to make sure she was okay. She did say to her father last night that her head was hurting. Maybe she really was ill. Maybe he should check on her again.

Alice grabbed his arm. "Don't." She hissed under her breath as they walked into third period together.

"What? Aren't you curious?" Edward shrugged, not seeing what the big deal was.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Alice replied. And then he saw it. A vision swimming around in her head that kept coming back the more Edward wanted to figure Bella out. Black robes on the horizon, a metallic shriek of burning vampire, then darkness.

"Oh." Edward breathed.

"It's not certain. It's not even really plausible. Just one of the many things." Alice rubbed her temples. "Someone is still deciding something." She said during the middle of class. "Or several different people are deciding things, each one changing the outcome slightly. I've never been exhausted. I don't know if I would recognize the feeling, but I'd say this is pretty close."

Then he saw another vision Alice had tried to keep from him. He just saw a sliver as class ended. Bella, terrifyingly beautiful. Her hair twisted up into a tight bun, her skin glimmering. Her sharpened teeth glowering. But this wasn't what Alice was trying to hide. He'd seen that vision of Bella rummaging around in Alice's head all morning, amongst many other visions of her, sometimes dead, sometimes not, sometimes vampire, dead, dead, dead, alive, dead, vampire, dead, etc etc, but at lunch, Alice accidentally broadened this one. Snow was on the ground, in the back there was the familiar mount Rainier. Edward stood close behind this painfully beautiful Bella, wearing Volturi robes, and his eyes red as blood.

xoxoxo

The next day Bella hopped out of her truck and swung her book bag over her shoulder. Mike and Jessica crowded around her as she made her way up to school on the side walk. They both bombarded her with questions. She suppressed the urge to groan and roll her eyes. But then she saw Edward standing next to his car looking at her. So she turned to Mike and grinned broadly.

"Oh, thank you. No I'm fine. I just wanted to get an extra day away from school yesterday." She laughed heartily. Too heartily. And grabbed onto Mike's arm. The sound false, but it irked Edward and that's the response she wanted.

All throughout lunch, Bella was throwing herself as much as possible into the lives of her fellow classmates, talking more and asking more questions about them that she had ever done before. The hair on the back of her neck prickled every now and then. And she knew he was watching her. Jessica nudged her elbow and then her mouth was near her ear, "Edward's staring at you. Again. He's been looking at you this entire time."

Bella sighed. "Don't stare back." She pulled on Jessica's sleeves.

"But. . . it's Edward." Jessica oozed. "I have never seen him, or anyone actually notice someone before. Is it true then?"

"Is what true?" Bella wiped her mouth with a napkin, not even daring to glance where Jessica's eyes kept going.

"That you two were talking when the van slid on ice?" Her eyes were bright and hopeful.

"Well, we have biology together." Bella shrugged and tried to roll it under a rug.

"So what were you talking about? I've never seen any of them talk to people outside of class." She asked truly fascinated. A few other kids at the table turned to listen in.

"Well." Bella took a swig of water from the bottle in her hand and squeezed the plastic in. "It can be hard, I suppose." She shrugged. "They're sort of outsiders, right? I mean, they've been here, what, two years, but, look at the progress they've made here. You're all still gawking at them and spreading rumors about them still." She said, indignation in her tone. "It's hard to have an in. I guess, he saw me as a new outsider kid too. I'm very glad he did too, otherwise I would be pancake to scrape off the black top."

"Oh." Jessica nodded. "So are you friends?"

"No. I don't think so." Bella shook her head. Despite Jessica and a few others trying to get more information out of her, she changed the subject at every turn. When the bell finally rung for forth period, Bella jumped to her feet, exhausted from the maneuvering at the table. Hopefully, they would all drop it by the end of the week. She hesitated before entering class, then drew in a deep breath. Edward was waiting, his face was. . . kind, but she darted her eyes to the ground. If she could stop her heart from beating so fast, it would be nice to have that ability now.

"Hello." Edward greeted warmly.

Bella looked him briefly in the eyes, and the both felt something break. Not like glass or something physical. But a shift, like a foundation cracking. She nodded in his direction before turning away again. She faced the front as she sat down. Edward, rebuffed, turned too, feeling rejected. She didn't talk to him for the rest of class, didn't look at him.

Edward was suffering in more ways than one sitting next to her, but he was surprised at how much her silence infuriated and stung him. If she knew about vampires, then he didn't have to hide from her. He thought selfishly, he could figure out why her thoughts evaded him. Perhaps, they could just talk. Back at lunch, she had been almost kind to him and his family. Defending them. Had he misinterpreted it? He thought again of how she pulled up in their driveway. When Carlisle couldn't stop her from coming in, he panicked, fearing for her life from him, he wasn't prepared to be close to her in that moment. He ran up to his room and surveyed the whole encounter through the minds of his family. She had thanked him at the end. She had spoken to him, knowing he was listening. Why was she now, in his presence, so silent?  
Did she know how much he wanted to kill her that first day. Did she know perhaps how much that desire burned in his throat? He decided not, or else she wouldn't be sitting here. Edward decided, that perhaps this was enough. He wasn't sure what was wrong or right anymore, but he knew that he needed her to be safe. He eventually talked himself into believing that he could perhaps be her protector. From errant cars or . . . whatever else. Yes, that was the excuse he told himself to not feel guilty for wanting to be near her. She was after all, important to the Volturi. This was not about her at all, he lied to himself.

Bella closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead often.

"Is your head okay?" He would ask. Silence.

The bell rang again. Bella shuffled up to her feet and started to pack her books into her backpack. Edward slowly rose to do the same, being carefully not to get too close. He had fully expected and realized now that this was how things were going to be, when Bella zipped her backpack up and stared at him for another lingering moment.

"You have to stay away from me." She whispered so quietly, the sound of a heart break, so intimately, he almost thought he was reading her mind. She pulled the hoodie up over her head, whipped around and walked to gym. It was the last thing she said to him, for what felt like a miserable forever.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Dark Matter**

* * *

 **Dark Matter**

Chapter 3

* * *

Jane proudly glided through the corridor, the back of her robe billowed out behind her. Several other members wordlessly moved out of her way. They didn't have to see her to know she was coming through, and they knew by the sound of her footsteps that she was in a temper.

"Has anyone seen my brother?" She asked to no one in particular.

No one answered her. She stopped suddenly once she had passed them and turned around. "Well? Have you seen him or not?" She raised her eyebrows dangerously.

Heidi stepped up. "I think I saw him go. . . she looked up and nodded towards the ceiling."

Jane blinked once, carefully arranging her expression. "I see." She should have known. She thought by now he would be over it. That everyone would be. This whole time she felt like people were playing a prank on her and that now, finally, things could get back to normal. It was her idea after all. The perfect plan - Aro jumped at the idea - and secretly she was proud to illicit that reaction out of him again. He had been preoccupied for awhile, his normal cheerful enthusiasm seemed to be so strained, she almost didn't even suggest it. And of course Aro would be able to read her real intent, but apparently he did believe it would be in her best interest and quickly persuaded Caius and Marcus. But the plan wasn't working like she thought it would. She thought that removing _her_ would make everything snap back into place. But she realized how wrong she was when she climbed all the way up the tower that used to be forbidden except to only a select few and even they weren't al- lowed until night time, when the sun was down and only moonlight streamed into the large gothic windows. There was a secret passageway from the wives private chambers, but there was access from outside through one of the parapets. A long spiral staircase that led to a large room that overlooked the city. Jane realized that all she did was pick away a puzzle piece, and now the picture was incomplete. Hollow. Unsatisfactory.

Alec was sitting at one of the windows and gazing out at the stars, wondering what they looked like from where _she_ was.

Couldn't he see, Jane wondered. Couldn't he see how much time he was wasting. Couldn't he see how much she took from him. Jane hated her. From the start. From the very beginning. But no one else would listen to her. Jane climbed into her broth- ers lap and threw her arm around his shoulder.

He shrugged her away and frowned. "Leave me alone." He pouted.

"Alec." She felt briefly hurt by his rejection. For centuries they had always been in sync, in harmony, basically reading each other's thoughts like Aro does, but not be- cause of a special gift, but by their closeness. But things changed a few years ago. She felt him loosen away, from their pinky grip grasp on each other. It started slowly. She didn't even notice until _her_ 13th birthday and Alec begged Aro to change her then. Begged. At first just a formal request to the heads of the Volturi, and then it became more and more desperate. It took Jane too long too realize why. It was just a crush, more in love with the idea of _her_ , as all 12 year old crushes go. He wanted to keep _her_ , she realized. In his mind, he discovered _her_. In his mind, he was the one that saved _her_. _She_ was his. And he wanted to keep her, like a child who covets something that wasn't theirs to begin with.

But once the crush started, it sort of became a part of him, permanent, but she wasn't permanent. She wasn't like him. She grew up and moved on where he couldn't, trapped by time. She outgrew him, but the ghost of what she could have been still haunted him. In a way, he would always think he had some claim to her.

And Jane hated her all the more for that too.  
"She'll come back." Alec whispered, still staring out the window. "She has to."

Jane dropped her arms to her side. She didn't tell him that she would be "too old". And she didn't tell him that it was she who suggested her exilement. Instead Jane combed her brothers hair and said "Perhaps." She winced and diverted her gaze, guiltily to the rest of the room.

 _Her_ room. Her bed was still unmade and untouched since she left. When she was merely fascinated by her, Jane used to come here and play with her, but those toys were put away and stuffed into the closet. Her desk where she had been doing her school every year four or five tutors, teaching her every subject and eight different languages. Papers and projects still cluttered her desk. The only thing out of place was the teddy bear that had been on her pillow. The worn bear currently dangled in Alec's left hand.

Even seeing her brother like this, Jane still was resolved in her decision. She did the right thing, for her brother and herself, and for Volterra.

* * *

Mike was fairly useless. However, annoyingly, he did feel concerned about Bella, and noticed her condition in almost the same way as Edward would have. So, often times during the day Edward would find himself scanning through his mind. It was an imperfect mechanism, but he couldn't stand the way Jessica's jealousy colored her vision. Angela was his second favorite, but he felt guilty for prying into her mind, someone so pure, and kind. Though, she didn't pay nearly enough attention to Bella as Mike did. Which was the uncomfortable situation Edward was in, if he wanted to get to know Bella more, because as it had been for the last two to three weeks, she wouldn't look at him let alone have a conversation. And though it felt rude, and a belittlement to his own sensibilities, his new hobby was spying through teenage minds. The worst kind of conduit.

Which is why he was thoroughly emerged in Mike's conversation with Eric one morning, a week before the spring dance. Suddenly, it was on everyone's mind as if they had woken up with arrows in their hearts.

Rose and Emmett never missed a dance. Rose loved the silly occasions, it reminded her of how things used to be. The balls, the parties, the dancing. Though, a high school dance, was a poor token to those days, still Rosalie loved to show off, even just a little bit. And Emmett was always willing to show off.

Alice and Jasper never attended social function where large crowds of sweaty and nervous teens would be present. Carlisle and Esme have been known to chaperone a few times. And truth be told, they made the best chaperones. A single stare down from Esme and dudes dropped their hands from their illicit placings and thought about the last time their told their mom they loved them and how imminent death could be.

Like Jasper, these kinds of functions were a bit of a nightmare for Edward, though it wasn't because he never got offers. In fact that morning, he heard from four different girls giggling to themselves and friends, daring each other to ask him out to the spring dance.

But he wasn't concerned with this. He was concerned about the 8 suitors jockeying for their chance to ask Bella. And the fact that Bella had no idea it was coming. He almost wanted to warn her, but part of him felt that he was owed this moment to have the day unfold as it was going to.

But it wasn't until he finally got around to Mike's thoughts, when he realized something was wrong.

 _She looks crazy tired._ Mike thought as he walked with her to lunch. And truly, she did look tired. The circles under her eyes were worse than his own. They made hallow of her face. Her cheeks were sunken in. _When was the last time he saw her actually eat lunch. Reminds me of the Cullens and Hales,_ he thought as Bella just purchased a bottle of water. True, the purple hues under her eyes were similar to their own, but she didn't look radiant as they. She looked absolutely drained, ragged, even. The more he stared at her, even through Mike's eyes, the more certain Edward was that at any moment she was going to fall apart.

In biology he sat motionless as Mike walked her to her seat and sat at the edge of the table. If she knew Mike was still there, she didn't act like it. In fact when he spoke, she jumped a little.

"Woah, there, Swan." Mike said. And Edward hated him for his familiarity with her. "You okay?" And Edward hated him for being able to ask the question he needed answers to, resigned to get them second hand, and grateful that someone was paying attention.

"Hm?" Bella raised her head slowly. Her eyes lids fluttered open and close. "Mhm." She answered then lowered her head to the desk. "Just tired."

"Oh." Mike nodded awkwardly. Not really sure where to go from here. "You sleeping okay?"  
"Mmm." She groaned.  
"Well, I was wondering what you were doing next Saturday. The day of the spring dance. I was thinking, if you were free. . . well, I know it's girl's choice and all, but I'm free. If you get what I'm saying. And, well, I think we would have fun. But again. It's your choice or whatever. I just thought I would bridge the gap a little, let you know, because I wasn't sure if you. . ."

He was interrupted by a loud snore.  
"Bella? Are you asleep?" Mike folded his arms across his chest. "What the—"  
Then the teacher came in dropped her book bag loudly on the floor. Bella sat upright and her heart raced.

Edward curled his thumb under a fist and squeezed. He always forgot how hard it was, and it always surprised him at how potent her blood smelled to him. It wasn't getting any easier, but he felt like getting to know her superficially had somewhat distracted him over the last few weeks from his desire to taste her.

Bella fell asleep in class three times. It became so bad that the teacher excused her from class.

Edward waded through Mike's mind as he got permission to take her home. He had read about jealousy. And seen it played out a thousand times in the minds of the students around him for decades. He thought he understood it. But as he watched Bella lean against him as they walked to the parking lot, He had never felt such a sickly green hatred, a fire that burned through his chest and poked holes in all his weaknesses. For a moment, he even thought she was doing it to him on purpose, nearly turning his fury on her. Who was she to him?

And then he realized his anger was not for Mike, and not for Bella, but rightly for himself. It was his fault he had let it go this far to think, that in some way he could—

He slammed his locker shut. Mike was driving her home now. And he realized he wasn't the only one jealous as he met up with Emmett in Spanish II. There were four others that missed their chance to ask Bella to the dance that day. Only one of them might have had enough confidence to actually do it. The last thing he read from Mike's thoughts was his fantasy of leading her up to her bedroom and taking her clothes off and then Mike went out of hearing range.

"Jeez, Eddie." Emmett said. "If you try any harder, you'll turn this desk into scraps."

"Huh?" Edward looked up. Emmett nodded at his hands which had gripped the edge of the table so tightly, he had splinted the wood with his fingers. "Oh." He pulled back.

Emmett rubbed his thumb over the table edge and evened out the ridges. "Something on your mind? Oh wait. Is this still about the vulture pet girl?"

Edward nearly growled.

"Easy. It's just a nick name."

"I'm aware." Edward rubbed his temples, as if he was as tired as Bella appeared to be. "And yes. It is."

"Why can't you just. . . leave her alone? I mean, I get it. It's pretty unusual. But I don't know. She's just a human and it's not our business." He shrugged.

"I'm aware." Edward said again. "I'm very aware of that Emmett."

After school, he dropped off his siblings at the house and then slung around again. He drove for a few hours until the sky turned darker. Then he got on foot and ran. The pangs of jealousy were over bearing and he felt like he needed to run until there wasn't anymore earth, because surely at the end of the world he could forget about her. That was his plan. To run until he reached the edge of the world, run until he couldn't recognize himself anymore and he didn't feel like a black raging storm.

It turned out that the edge of the world happened to be the tree outside Bella Swan's window. He didn't even know where he was heading until he had stopped there. He leaned forward and nearly panicked again because Bella was moving, but after a moment he realized that she wasn't awake. She was practically writhing, twisting in her sheets, sweat shined on her forehead and collected at the back of her neck. In a flaying movement, she kicked all the covers off of her.

She was hot and uncomfortable. In a rather un-thoughtout plan, Edward lunged forward, opened the window and found himself standing in her room. He had a harebrained idea that he could. . . cool her off? Just by standing there that he could. . . - Ugh. It was idiotic. The idea came so quickly and he acted before he could talk himself out of it. Now he was just standing in her room.

A thrill traveled up his spine. He really shouldn't be here. He looked around her room. Most of the decoration seemed to be outdated, things from someone else's life. Come on, Edward. You need to go. She told you to stay away from her. He turned to look at her again. So vulnerable. So pained. He wanted to fix it. In his mind, flooded a hundred different reasons why Bella should be happy.

And then slowly, the lines in her forehead started to ease and her teeth unclenched. And over several minutes Bella had rolled onto her side, sighed and nestled into her pillow, her face calm. Gently. Ever so carefully. Edward grabbed the blanket off the floor and set it over her shoulders. She sighed again.

Did. . . it work?

He came back the next night. Just to make sure. The scientific method, he reasoned as he once more climbed up the side of her house and pushed the window open. It could have been a coincidence. He told himself. Either way, he wanted to make sure she was better.

It was a Saturday, so he couldn't observe her through all the usual routes at school. And yes, he shouldn't be observing her at all. Of course not. But, he was just checking on her well being. And what if her well-being. . . was better if he. . . stayed.

He sat down in the rocking chair, feeling most foolish. He really should leave.

"Don't." Bella whispered. She rolled over and sighed again, nestling in her bed as she had done the night before. The stress seeming to melt away.

Was she awake? Edward froze, but her breathing indicated that she was fully unconscious. He didn't know what to do.

"Stay." She mumbled.

She had to be awake.

"No. No." She sighed.

Edward looked around him. He had the odd sensation that she was answering his unspoken questions, but that was impossible for several different reasons. If she really was asleep. . . it was probably nothing.

He sat in her room for a few hours. Trying to sort through his feelings and guilt and what he should do and what he shouldn't. And what would Bella think if she knew he was here. Would she call the Volturi? This truly didn't look good for him. What would Carlisle and Esme say? Why couldn't he leave her alone? Even now. She's fine. She's perfectly fine. He couldn't pin this on "her well being" any more. What is more un well than having a blood sucking vampire in the room of a sleeping girl. This is possibly the worst he could be doing now for her "well being."

"Edward." Bella sighed. The name so clear on her tongue. Spoken so confidently like she's said it a hundred times, like she was so familiar with him already. "Edward." She mumbled, digging her face into her pillow. She sighed.

And for the second time, Edward felt a shift in the world around him. This time he realized what had changed. Why he couldn't leave her alone. Why in so many of Alice's visions of her future, he was standing next to her.

Because he loved her.

Edward couldn't be sure. But he thought Bella smiled. Her lip turning up. But decided it must have just been the way her face was laying on the pillow.

He came back the next night. And the night after that. And the night after that. He missed only one night, because he had to hunt, but tonight he was back at it. Nothing changed during the day. The same old routine at school, the same old cold shoulder. The same daily minutia. However, she didn't seem to be so tired any more and after a few days the circles under her eyes were lighter and her face fuller. But at night, he felt like he was stepping into a different reality. One where he could envision something more. It was horribly selfish and he was haunted by the thought that at some point she would-

Bella sat bolt upright, shoving the covers away and stared directly at Edward, sitting in his normal seat by the window in the rocking chair.

They held each other gaze for several moments. Edward thought that perhaps, she was just asleep again and that her babblings manifested in. . . whatever this was. But she blinked and scanned him up and down.

"Oh." Edward gasped. If he had a human circulatory system, he would have blanched. Bella took in a deep breath, never not staring at him.

"I'm so sorry." Edward stammered out after an uncomfortable silence. "I know this looks bad. I'm so sorry. I never should have- I won't do it- I'm sorry." He got to his feet. she just watched him carefully. "I promise I wasn't trying to hurt you or, or anything. I just. Well. I-" He closed his mouth. Stupid stupid sTUPID. "I'll go. I'll go and I'll stay away like I promised. I'm so sorry." He turned towards the window.

"Wait." Bella sighed, resigned.

Edward started up with apologies again, running around in circles.

"Shhh." Bella put her finger to her lips. "Don't. Don't say anything. And don't-" she sighed and wrapped her arms around her legs. "Don't go."

Edward turned around again confused. He furrowed his eyebrows. He took in a painful breath about to ask a question.

"No." Bella shook her head interrupting him. "Shhh." She shushed and leaned her forehead on her knees. "Please. Don't say or ask anything. And I won't ask you why you're here." She took a few deep breaths. "Promise me, you won't tell anyone about this? Not your family?"

Edward blinked, not sure if she would let him speak to answer.

"You can answer that." She rolled her eyes.

"I. . . I promise." Edward agreed, though he was still confused on what he was agreeing to.

"Okay then." Bella grinned. "You can use the shower when you leave, to get rid of any lingering smell you pick up here. My dad wears ear plugs at night, because of my night terrors. And he's pretty used to me be being up late and doing weird stuff." She unfurled her legs out straight and glanced up at Edward. It was the same parting look she gave when she left his house that fateful night. Something of confusions and gratitude and a vulnerableness. "Good night." She shimmed back under the covered and turned away. After about a half hour, she fell back asleep.

When the sky started to shift to lighter shades of blue, Edward left as he always had. He didn't take a shower, but instead, realized she had a good point about the smell, he splashed into the river beside his house. He didn't care that he tromped through the house dripping wet. He was so frazzled that he didn't care what his family thought.

The next day at school Bella sat beside him at biology. And again, didn't look his way the entire time, except when the bell rung and she was putting her things in her bag. She tilted her face towards his direction and nodded at him before joining Mike at the door.

That night when he climbed up the side of her house, the window was already left open. Bella's light was on and she was sitting up reading. He stood unsure of himself. Then Bella placed a bookmark on the page she was reading and looked at him, with an air of professionalism. "Goodnight, Edward."

"Goodnight, Bella." Edward wanted to say her name and even though he promised not to talk, he felt like it was only polite. The corner of her lips turned up slightly. She turned the light off and went to sleep.

* * *

 **AN: Wasn't this one. . . kind of sweet?**

 **Thank you for reading and reviewing.**

 **xoxo**

 **Rosalie**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Not my characters.**

 **AN: I had fun with this one. I hope you do to. Don't forget to fav and tell me what you think.** **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

 **xoxo**

 **Rosalie**

* * *

 **Dark Matter**

Chapter 4

* * *

Athenodora rolled over the fur blanket that swathed around the large circular bed in her chamber. She touched her lips faintly, remembering a passionate kiss, and then roamed her hands down her naked body. It had been so long since Caius had touched her like that. He's been so busy with Aro. They've been locked into their meeting room for days at a time. Guards at the door. Always at the door. She was beginning to wonder if they were keeping others out, or if they were trapping them in.

But then he came in like a song, hungry, ready, impatient. The way she liked it. They were always so proper and polished, but in her chamber they could. . .

She shook her head dizzy with the fog of desire. It lingered in her room and she let it soak into her crystallized skin.

Corin always kept her and Sully company, especially when the boys were out for long periods of time. She knew why, of course. She wasn't stupid, there just wasn't anything she could do about it. She did love being royalty here. She did love Caius. She did love this life. Sometimes she thought, she was happy here on her own volition, believed it truly. But then Corin was there. And it made her doubt her own sense of belonging. Did she want this or was she made to think she wanted it. She's been seeing more and more of Corin. Especially after. . .well. After the incident, Corins been following their every footstep. Perhaps she could sense something they hadn't yet realized. Could she tell that a small light went out that day? That ever since, her thoughts had been elsewhere. Somewhere. Somewhere not here. Somewhere, wherever it was, where _she_ is now.

Part of her was jealous, she and Sully were couped up like chickens. Forever prisoners of the underground corridors here. It didn't always feel like it, and they had several guards stationed with them, including Corin to make sure they were happy and never wanted for anything here. But it didn't change the fact that they never left. Though, she understood. Day after day, staring at Marcus, she understood it and she was grateful for the gesture. Aro's sister was her friend too. She missed her. And Athenodora always would, but her tragic death completely obliterated her husband Marcus. Looking at him now, it's hard to imagine a time-a time when he was so blissfully happy.

Morte dell'anima.

The soul death. Didyme was traveling, exploring the world, while Athenordora's husband and Aro and his brother in law were consumed with the war against the romanians. And _they_ found her. The bastards. Old blooded scum. Athenodora snarled at the thought of the regime they vanquished to establish the Volturi as it is now. They almost took Marcus too in killing his mate. He tried to follow her into that bleak night, but Aro wouldn't allow it. Corin and Chelsea set to work on him. In the end, he is just as able as he always was to lead, to fight, to rule. But there was no appetite for life in him still. No enjoyment. No spark. Marcus was reduced to a shell of the man he once was, even though he would always be a formidable vampire.

Though there was a silver lining, if one could bare to find such a thing in the tragedy. His loss of Didyme sealed the fates of the Romanians. Her death meant their ultimate and final destruction and stabilization from their rule. It was the last fire in Marcus's eyes as he crushed their armies, hoping to find peace in killing her killers. He hurt them as they had hurt him. Where the pain doesn't end and the deepest of wounds are cut. How foolish they were to go after him in such a manner, given his abilities. To find their weak points and snuff them out.

But it didn't bring her back and it didn't restore Marcus. There was no coming back from Morte dell'anima. They've only seen it twice since Marcus. It's so rare to find a mate. And it's much rarer, nearly impossible, for that mate to be wrenched away into another life. It's horrible, but Aro loved Marcus and did everything, scoured the earth for those with gifts that would keep Marcus above water. Aro always cared for him like a brother. Aro cared for everyone and wanted everyone to succeed. But he was always closer to Caius, the bond of war, brothers of arms. Caius was a fighter and Aro was drawn to that.

And in so, Aro wanted the best for Caius, which meant protecting Athenodora as fiercely as he protected his own wife. Morte dell'anima was not a fate that Aro or Caius would ever risk for themselves.

And thus, like a princess trapped in her tower, Athenodora lounged on her bed, waiting again for Caius to make a brazen appearance. Though no one ever seemed concerned about what she would do without Caius. How she would feel. She wanted to wrap him up and chain himself to her as well, and never let him go. But that's not what could be. She sighed and gently pat the bed, combing through the fur once more before she got up and dressed herself in a silk robe.

She stared at herself in the mirror. Her long hair, impossible shiny cascaded over her perfect shoulders, sculpting around her breasts, grazing her stomach, barren for centuries. Even after Caius's visit, a frown still perched on her lips, dragging at the corners. She was made to be content here, but that didn't mean she had to smile. She thought again about Didyme's hole she left in Marcus. In all of them. Didyme could make people smile. She could make people happy. Without her, there were few smiles to go around. And none at all in Marcus.

And the first smile that she ever saw out of him since. . . Remembering it herself, she smiled too. In the mirror, she watched the corners of her lips lift at the memory, perfect in her mind nearly fourteen years ago. A short snap in her lifetime, but it felt like another lifetime. She stared at the door that led up to _her_ tower. The true princess locked away in a keep. She dared not travel up the staircase now.

She blinked and rose to her full height, tightened the robe around her waist and stepped out of her room.

"Madame." Chelsea was waiting for her at the door. She whisked past her and knocked on the adjacent room where Corin was standing. She stepped aside for her. It had been awhile since she had asked Sulpicia for something. For years they had competed against one another, sizing each other up constantly. But things were different now.

Sulpicia opened the door. Her long dark strands blowing behind her with the draft, and ruffled her feathery robe. Aro was here recently. The same activity written on her face. The two, Aro and Caius were so in sync, apparently they even wanted their wives at the same time.

"Sully." Athenodora said in a whispering tone and she hastily wiggled into her room, away from Chelsea. The door shut behind her.

"What's going on? Is something wrong?" Sulpicia grabbed her chest, holding her breath for horrible news. Athenodora smiled suspiciously.

"No. No. Everything's fine. Only. . ." She grinned like a school girl. "Do you remember the gadget that she was trying to teach us to use?"

Sully knew instantly who she meant by that. "Oh. Yes. Why?"

"Well. Do you have it?" Athenodora's energy was spreading.

"No. I don't. Demi took off with it. I didn't want it anymore." Sully bit her lip. Felix and Demetri were on a special look out mission. Somewhere in the Baltic's perhaps? They should be finishing up by now. "Corin!" She called and in a moment the small cheerful vampire was at the door. "Fetch Demetri, for me." She ordered and then grabbed Athenodora's hand. Squeezed it, like a sister does.

* * *

Jessica twirled around in front of Angela and Bella. Angela had liked the first dress she tried on so much, she was happy to call it quits, much to the greatest relief of Bella. But then she realized that gave more air time to Jessica, who had something negative to say about every single dress. Honestly, Bella didn't quite understand the hoopla. It wasn't prom. It was just a spring dance. The idea of going to one absolutely nauseated her. While watching Jessica point out the bad lace work on another dress, Bella fantasized about showing up to the spring dance after all. People being excited that she came, perhaps she would wear a scandalously revealing dress. they would all stare at her in wonder, until she lifted her head to reveal dark black eyes. She would smile and then that smile would widen into a face of horror. And then as the song changed to a slow classical number, she would pick them all off one by one. Who would she kill first? Mike perhaps? Or save him and Jessica for last. Yes, yes, that's it. Angela first, a mercy killing-

"What's so funny?" Angela leaned over.

"Hm?" Bella was yanked out of her reverie.

"You're smiling like an idiot." Jessica crossed her arms, upset that she had taken attention away. "There's gotta be a reason?"

"Oh." Bella blushed and shook her head. "Nothing." She laughed and waved it off.

"What?" Angela pushed. She'd never seen Bella so happy.

"I-" Bella started. "I was thinking about how silly all the guys are going to look next to you two knock outs."

Angela blushed. Jessica grinned.

 _Close one._ Bella stood on her feet. "Hey, I'm gonna go. . ." She breathed. "Do something else." She finished lamely. "Find a bookstore. I'm running out of bedtime reading material." It was true. She'd already read three books waiting up until Edward came in through the window each night. Now seemed like a good time to go. She stepped outside and enjoyed the crisp chilly air. Not too cold, but the wind, when it blew still nipped her nose. She meandered her way in the direction most likely to have a bookstore. A few shops with large round light bulbs dotting the sidewalks, connecting the strip malls together like popcorn on a string. There was literally nothing but a closed antic store, several coffee shops, a travel place that Bella didn't think existed anymore, and two Chinese restaurants.

She heard a noise to her left. Men dragging themselves out of a bar, leaning on each other for support. Bella scowled. It was far too early for that. "Lightweights," she tutted and circled back around. She counted the streetlights, continuing on after the friendly bulbs changed into economic street lamps, flicking white blue light onto the asphalt.

She was used to this. Being alone. Separating herself from everyone. It's what she was used to. She had always been set apart. Wanted, yes, but separated. She heard water somewhere in the distance and her feet seemed to follow in the direction while she tried to wrestle with the contradictions in her life. Orphaned, with family. Human in a supernatural world. Powerless against those without power. Unable to touch the ones she loves, and unable to love the ones she can. And then Edward. She sighed. What to do with him? Why in all the places. . . she was still astounded at the coincedence.

"Hey." A voice called out, and for wild second she thought she had summoned Edward, but she would have known he was coming. No this voice belonged to one of the drunk men outside the bar.

"Ugh." Bella rolled her eyes and kept walking.

"I'm talking to you." He heckled. Bella ignored him, marching on. "Ah, come here, sweet thing. Are you lost? Daddy's here. He can get you home. Get you in bed, tuck you in. Fold you over." He barked out an obnoxious laugh. The two men he were with laughed too. He nodded to them and pointed the side street. He darted off into it.

Bella's face turned icy and she balled both of her hands into fist. Still she walked forward, but changed her gait.

"I don't mind, honey. You can keep walking that way. Your ass is fine." He was getting closer. The other man close behind and the third man somewhere off to the side. "If you don't want me staring at your ass, you can always swing yourself around. I promise, I can handle the front side just as nice."

Bella winced. Now he's just being gross. The third man emerged on the other side of the building. He stopped there, daring her to continue on towards him. Two men behind her, one in front. Nowhere to go. Instead she crossed the street and ducked into the alley of the next building.

The first man made a "tsk - tsk" sound. "Ms. Booty, where do you think you're going? You know that alley ways are dangerous at night for pretty little ladies like you." He sneered and Bella could almost taste his breath in the air around her.

She stopped suddenly. "It looks like you have me cornered." She said matter of factly, no sign of fear at all in her tone. Then she turned around and lifted her face up, staring directly into the first man's eyes. "Like a mouse in a trap." She smiled. It wasn't a regular smile. It was the one she had taught herself, years of seeing it in the face of the one she most admired. The smile of the fox successfully manipulating it's prey. The smile of one who has so many secrets. The smile of the one who knows that they will always win.

In the distance, tires were screeched on the asphalt. But no one could hear it, because before any of them could react Bella jammed her foot on his toes, uppercut into his groin then elbowed his clavicle into next Tuesday. He crumpled beneath her, like a sovereign bow.

"Hey!" The one who came around the side shouted at her and came at her with a punch. She was ready for it and made herself into a table, throwing him over her back, then tossing him to the ground. While she kicked his groin, Bella pulled and then twisted his arm out of socket.

The third one was barreling towards her, too dumb to realize he would end up just the same. A sloppy fist came down towards her, that she easily dodged under from. She grabbed his wrist, then twisted it around and in on itself, bringing him to his knees. She threw his arm down then came for the back of his head, gripping his hair between her fingers, and leaning it back before she slammed it against her raised knee.

The first one began to move again. Bella laughed as he stumbled to his feet.

"EH! Fuck you!" He screamed and charged towards her. She stuck her foot out and he tripped over her, falling face first on top of the second guy. They both groaned, almost comically. The other one got to his hands and knees. Looked at the other two and then back at Bella who stood fists up and waiting. Her eyebrow was cocked, as if asking "you really sure, dude?"

"What. . . are you?" He held his hands up in surrender.

Bella grinned, ear to ear. "Just a pretty little lady with a fine ass." She backed away to the opening of the alleyway. Lights flooded in the scene and tires screeched again as a Silver Volvo stopped a few feet behind her. She felt for the door behind her, already swung open.

"Get in." Edward hissed. Bella did so, always keeping her eye on the men who were steadily trying to get back on their feet, nursing their shoulders and arms, and groins. As she slammed the door shut, she laughed.

"Oh, god. I needed that." She chuckled to herself.

"Seatbelt." Edward said in low tones. Not starting to leave until she did so. "Are you hurt?" He asked once he had fishtailed around in the alleyway, nearly knocking the men over again like bowling pins. "Did they touch you."

"Nope." Bella shrugged. "Why are you worried?" Clearly, he was. "It's fine, Edward. I'm fine. They didn't get a single punch on me." She flipped down the passenger side mirror and checked out her face, just to make sure.

"Are you sure?" He said pained.

She laughed again. "Edward, I've been trained how to fight since. . . for a while. In literally all kinds, karate, jujitsu, hand to hand, olympics wrestling, boxing, mixed martial arts." She listed off. "They were never going to hurt me."

Edward seemed to calm down, always soaking up anything Bella said about herself like a sponge. He took a moment to digest the new information. She's been trained to fight. And from the mangled men in the alleyway, she was good at it. "Why?"

Bella sighed. "You're killing my buzz. Did you see what I did? Man, they were dumb and drunk. But I took on three still. One of them had to be 250. I gotta tell-" She cut off. "Why are you here?" She turned to face Edward.

"I was looking out for you. And then I saw what was in their minds." He scowled and shifted the car's gear, going faster. "They were going to-"

"They weren't."

"But they wanted to-"

"They didn't." Bella comforted him, but then she stopped herself. "Why do you care so much?"

He noticed that she didn't seem surprised that he just confessed he could read their minds. He moved past that. "Because if you're important to the Volturi then I think it's in the best interest of everyone involved that I . . . make sure you aren't harmed. By vampire or human." He said quickly, coming up with the excuse already a week ago.

"Ah, because the Volturi." Bella nodded, her smile fading. "I see. In that case, you better kill them." She leaned back in her seat. "I would if I could, but frankly, as I am, that would take far too long, and as much as I know about using weight against others, I'm not strong enough to do that with my bare hands." She turned to Edward again. "But you are."

Edward stopped the car. He looked into Bella's eyes, searchingly, trying to find something there. As soon as he heard those men's thoughts, he had dreamed of ripping into them, ending them, no one who would hurt her should be allowed to live. They shouldn't be allowed to breath. It took everything in him to even turn the car around in the alley. His first concern was that she was safe. But now. . . its as if she's giving him permission, ordering him to even. . but would she would feel safe with him knowing that he. . . would he feel safe from himself. . .

"I know what monsters are." Bella whispered, a grin rising on her lips. "I'm looking at one."

"Stay in the car." Edward ordered. In the dark, she couldn't even trace his projection out of the seat and into the dark night. The only evidence that he had moved was his absence and the ringing of the door being slammed shut. He left the car running and Bella messed with the temperature dials and then waited.

When he returned, Bella was curled up in the passenger seat blasting the CD he had in the car.

"It's done." He muttered. And Bella broke out of her curled up position, like a flower blooming. She stared at his face, and he stared back. Finally, after several moments of reflection she spoke.

"You didn't do it." She said. It wasn't a question. "You didn't kill them." She looked puzzled.

"They're tied up and knocked out. I called the police and they're on the way to their location to be picked up, one of them is wanted for raping 4 women. The others for petty crime and theft. The police will take care of them. They will pay the price of their actions under their laws."

Bella opened her mouth, an objection or question on her breath.

"I'm not the kind of monster you think I am." Edward stated. "Now put you're seatbelt on. I'm taking you home."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

 **AN:** **Thank you for reading and reviewing.**

 **xoxo**

 **Rosalie**

* * *

 **Dark Matter**

Chapter 5

* * *

It was a quiet drive back to Forks. Edward was stony and silent, his face a marbled righteous god, caught in the moment after a tumultuous decision and standing by it. Meanwhile, Bella was caught up in a storm of thought. Her body curled in on herself, as if she could fold the world around her, so that it was just her. All she allowed her self to hear was the blood rushing to her head and and her heartbeat and all she allowed herself to see was the blur outside the window. As the trees flew past, a blur in Bella's off world gaze, further separating Bella from this plane of existence, losing herself in the indistinct shapes that she left untangled in her mind. Then, suddenly, she would glance at Edward again, anchoring her back to earth.

She squeezed herself as far away as possible, as if she could slither into the gap between the seat and the door. "I have many rules." She began and looked at her hands. Edward didn't appear to hear her, a statue with a lead foot, but she knew he was listening intently. "Rules of engagement with vampires. Or," She paused. "More accurately, rules of survival, knowing as I do of the 'vampire condition.' There are certain limits. . ." She eyed her hands again. "One of these rules is not to be in enclosed close quarters alone with a vampire."

Edward turned to her then, and his foot lifted from the gas pedal. "Do you want to go?" As resolute as he was, he understood if she was scared. She had every right to be. She should be. Nothing changed the fact that he was a vampire and that he, or some part of him, wanted her blood. "I can drop you off and have Jessica pick you up."

"I have these rules," Bella continued as if he hadn't said anything, finding her separated world again in the blur outside the window. "Lived by them for so long, protecting myself in doing what I could, but. . . " She took a deep breath, "but knowing deep down, that they wouldn't protect me. I could follow them to the T, do everything right, do everything they asked for-" She broke off. "But in the end, it wouldn't really matter would it? There's nothing I can do, really, that could ever change. . . that could ever actually effect what becomes of me. It's completely out of my hands, but I keep these rules, and I keep believing that if I just do what I'm supposed to, and keep everyone at arms length, then maybe, maybe I actually can have some kind of control over my life." She stopped and leaned her forehead on the window, not knowing why she was saying this anymore. But it felt good to spit the words out and let them unravel from the knot they were tangled in, in her brain. Her forehead, bumped on the window, so she pressed it harder against the vibrations, having it massage her temples. "Even if it's all make believe."

Edward didn't know quite what to say, and he decided-accurately- that this wasn't the time for any response. Instead, he sped up again.

After a moment of letting it settle, Bella unfurled herself from her own cocoon and turned to face Edward, still keeping as much space between them as possible. She wasn't really looking at him, but just sort of seeing his shape against the background of the car's interiors, as she didn't understand how he could fit there.

He had melted out of his stony self and moved much more like an actual person, fluid and alive. He slid a glance at her, carmel eyes in the dark. Softly, he cleared his throat, a humanizing trick he learned from Carlisle. "Well, it looks like we're both breaking our rules."

"Yes." Bella murmured and then turned to face the dark blurring world from the window again. They didn't talk again for the rest of the journey back.

When Edward pulled into her driveway, she wordlessly unbuckled, unlocked the door and stepped out. Though, she kept her hand on the door, and paused before shutting it behind her. She seemed to be struggling with something, a question she was having a hard time getting the words to.

Edward intervened. "Would you like to be alone tonight?"

Bella's face furrowed. She honestly didn't know the answer. She was split down the middle, having a pro con list for each one, wanting a night of privacy to her thoughts, while also not wanting to be alone with them. Edward waited for an answer that didn't come. He couldn't read her mind, but he knew she couldn't tell him either way.

"Perhaps it's best if I just just see you at school tomorrow." Edward added, and there was a moment of panic in Bella's eyes, before she calmed them down, guarding herself once more in professionalism. And then, to his dismay, she nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps it is for the best." She slammed the door behind her.

Both felt hurt and both didn't want to know why.

Edward sped towards home. Before he went inside, he dove feet first into the babbling stream in their backyard. He submerged himself for a few minutes, stewing.

"Good gracious, Edward Anthony Masen." Esme gasped. She only used his full real name when she was personally hurt, and only said it aloud, when she needed his full and upright attention. Edward paused at the bottom of the stairs and reluctantly turned to face her, like a teen caught in the wrong, but trying to play it off.

"What do you think you're doing?" Esme's perfectly soft face was raised in alarm. "You're dripping all over the carpet. Was it you that stain it the other evening as well? What is wrong with you?" Edward turned to see the the muddy tracks that trailed behind him on the pristine white carpet. The house was her pride and joy. Edward was currently sabotaging it.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Esme. I'll clean it up." Edward's face fell. He didn't like disappointing his parents. If this was how she reacted to the carpets. . . how much more disappointed would they be in if they found out where he's been going and what he's been doing.

Esme stepped towards him, her household fury calmed down to warm embers. "Is everything okay, Edward?"

"Yup." He answered quickly, then turned and stalked up the stairs. "I'll dry off and then clean it up." He swung into his room then chucked off all his clothes into the corner by the window, effortlessly moving towards the connected bathroom. He stood in the shower for a long time, just staring at himself in the mirror. It had been nearly a decade or two since he had looked at himself, properly looked at himself. He avoided mirrors, not because as the myths rang, he couldn't see his reflection, but because he didn't like his reflection. It was just a reminder of who he was now.

What did Bella call him? A monster. That's the word. Monster. He turned side to side. Seeing his pale, young, trim and angular body shimmer under the warm lights. Monster. He looked at his eyes, seeing the inhuman color, the color of abstinence, the color of weak dirt. He felt his stomach churn. Monster. He turned his back to the mirror and glanced over his shoulder, flexing his back muscles. Seeing the skin tightened across his shoulder blades and the curves along muscles that were inhumanely possible, unnecessary and freakish. Monster. He gripped his hair in his hands. They hadn't grown since he was bitten. He thought of all the styles he's had to shape them into, to fit in with the modern teenager over 100 years. Monster.

Yes. He was a monster. This was true and something he didn't need a reminder of. _"I know what monsters are."_ Edward cringed. Whatever she's witnessed or been through, whatever she thinks he is. . . he can't be.

He stared at himself again, trying to see the human that he used to be. Trying to see past this cold unyielding body. Trying and failing.

He's worked too hard to just be another monster. His more than just this. He has to be. He's different. He's better. He's. . .

Edward sank to his knees.

* * *

"Saddie, be a dear and fetch a cab for me." Heidi pulled on her gloves and sunglasses as she walked to the reception room.

"Yes, ma'am. Right away." Sandra adjusted her name tag and cleared her throat, as a polite correction. Heidi knew her name. But Heidi, who was in charge of roping in meals for the rest of the company here, enjoyed it when she could play with her food every now and then. There was no game in it for the rest of them. No hunting and hunted. She just provided the Volturi with fresh blood and they picked them off like grapes from the hands of the servant standing behind them. In that way, she was the ultimate hunter. Sure, Demi could track. But she was responsible for feeding the masses with masses. She fancied herself like Jesus, feeding everyone with a loaf of bread. They all had their uses here. Sometimes Heidi would play a vicious game of who was more important to the heads. She was definitely the most active member of the Volturi. Discreetly shuffling in humans to the city where they would never return, and keeping a low profile, in ordinance with Volturi standards, was a lot of work. She relied heavily on her aides.

But that didn't mean she didn't like to have fun with them from time to time. Some were more fun than others. _Veronica_. . . Heidi sighed, and a smile crept up her face. Veronica nearly got her request. That one was so bold. So outright. So warm. There was something wonderfully exquisite with the heat of a human. And equally exquisite was the way the warmth of her blood trickled down Heidi's cheek. She liked humans for what they gave her, companionship for when she was lonely, and blood for when she was thirsty. A job and a high rank within the most safest and well regarded establishment in her community. Yes, humans were very good to Heidi. Humans adored Heidi.

Except. . . Bella. The only human Heidi couldn't enchant. Of course, in Bella's presence, she didn't mind. Heidi found herself, like the wives. . . enamored by her. She watched her being whisked away in the middle of the night. Aro, Marcus and Caius had been arguing quietly together for weeks. And then there was silence. And then Bella was gone.

But now, Bella wasn't around and she wasn't enchanted with her. Heidi was glad. She supported the decision made by Aro and defended it when there were whispers through the halls. Bella was live wire. She was dangerous. A disruption from order. And because of her defense of the decision. . . Aro trusted her more than ever. Which is why she couldn't face him until she stopped Chelsea from getting that laptop.

* * *

Mike and Jessica both seemed to be pleased that the Cullens had been keeping to themselves again. Their jealousy was all tied up into angry vines, they couldn't see Bella clearly through. But today was a normal day. Jessica's father kissed her mother on the way out, which either meant they were fighting or had sex the night before. Yuck. She shook her head, hoping it was just the fight, but the mental image was already doing damage, and she plugged all the holes in the gross visual department with her inner favorites, mostly involving Edward. Out of habit, for some reason, she always thought that. . . somehow he knew she was. . . it was silly, and she was probably just paranoid, but still Jessica turned to check the Cullens table. But Edward wasn't there.

"I guess Edward is taking a leave of absence again." Jessica turned to the group at lunch as if she had hot gossip. She was used to Bella ignoring her, but her head whipped up and then over to the table, needing to see for herself. "I heard there was an issue with custody." She whispered conspiratorially. "That he has to go back to his birth parents house every few months to live out some. . . mandate or. . . something." Jessica made up on the spot, liking the attention people gave her and not wanting to lose them when they realized that's all she had to offer.

Bella stood up and turned towards the Cullen's. Something indecipherable washed across her face.

Alice gracefully turned towards her. Then Jasper wrapped his arms around Alice and turned her away.

In biology, Bella sat in her normal seat, in her normal class at the normal hour, but she wasn't really there. Her worlds kept evolving and changing and she wasn't sure what was up or down anymore. Her arms gripped her chest, pressing tightly, as if, if she squeezed herself hard enough, she could keep herself together and not expand out, drifting into a universe that was a cold stranger to her. Why was this happening? She was never. She had never felt so removed. So dislocated before.

And then a familiar ringing in her ears. A pinging in her head. And suddenly, she wasn't in the classroom anymore. She was looking at a dark brick wall. Smog drifted in and loud ringing was all around her. Feet everywhere. Smells of dirt, and food, and black oil.

"Ms. Swan?" The biology teacher asked tersely.

"What?" Bella sat up straight. The ringing in her ears hadn't stopped.

"I asked you a question." He tapped his foot impolitely, waiting. There were soft giggles around her.

This would have been a normal kids nightmare. But Bella had nightmares far worse than this.

"I'm sorry. I have to go." Bella stood up, she grabbed her things and as the teacher called after her that she couldn't leave without permission, the door slammed behind her.

She sat in her car until her head cleared up. They were looking for her. She didn't know if this was bad or good. She never knew. It was always bad and good. It was always both. As the kids went to the last class of the day, she peeled out of the parking lot and headed back to Charlie's house. Was she safe here? Was it worse to go or stay? Should she wait? Should she do anything? If only there was a sign.

She stomped up the stairs and threw her back pack across the room. It landed by the bookshelf, dislodging everything. The real issue. . . was this awful feeling of being empty, of a stab in her heart, that had no right to be there. A tear escaped her eyes. She knew this might happen if she let him in. . . she thought she could hold him at a distance. . . and that she was . . . god she was an idiot.

No. She realized. Whatever happens now. She can never see Marcus again. He'll know. He'll know and its the worst thing in the world for him to know. This is what she had always been afraid of. What she had been so desperate to prove time and time again. Her allegiance. Her loyalty, and then some dumb vampire who drives a dumb shiny silver volvo. . . No.

She collapsed by the foot of her bed and a huge sob wretched out of her. It was good that he was gone. She told herself. If he was smart, he would forget about her. . . if he was smart he would never come back. A larger sob heaved in her chest and bucked her forward. Always good and bad. Always both.

The milky white cloudy sky started to dim and soon Bella was lying on the floor with her hands wrapped around her knees in darkness. That's when she noticed a flashing on the old desktop. Dried out and weary, Bella got up and clicked on the notification.

EMAIL (1/10)

 _BELLA. IT IS SULLY AND ATHENA. WE FOUND THE SMALL PORTABLE COMPUTATION DEVICE._

 _DO YOU REMEMBER THIS DAY?_

EMAIL (2/10)

 _DID YOU RECEIVE THE DIGITAL PORTRAIT?_

EMAIL (3/10)

 _DEMI SAID IT WAS NOT ATTACHED._

EMAIL (4/10)

 _I found a button that calms the letters down. I will send the attachment._

EMAIL (5/10)

 _I am sorry. It still did not attach. I do not like this._

EMAIL (6/10)

[1 attachment]

[1 attachment]

EMAIL (7/10)

 _DID YOU GET IT?_ [ 1 attachment]

[1 attachment]

[1 attachment]

[1 attachment]

EMAIL (8/10)

 _This is all just the same photo. I have made duplicates of them. Just in case. I did it on purpose._

[1 attachment]

[1 attachment]

[1 attachment]

Bella wiped a lingering tear. And then laughed. A hearty laugh that warmed her chest.

EMAIL (9/10)

 _This is Athena. Sully is not good with this at all._

EMAIL (10/10)

 _Hey, Bella Bella. It's Felix._

 _They want more of these._

Bella opened up each and every attachment. It was the same photo. Over and over again. And soon her entire screen was full of the same photo, overlapping each other, highlighting different portions.

In the left hand corner Sully's long dark hair unraveled from a green fluffy pointed hat. Athenadora's blond hair was wrapped to the side in a long pony tail. She too was wearing a green hat. Marcus was in the center. Instead of his normal black Volturi robes, he was wearing a red suit. His face was as sullen as ever, but even in this photo, his lips were pulled oddly in the corner, as if he were trying to remember how to smile. Perched on his lap, covered in torn red and green wrapping paper. A 5 year old Bella. Her face was flush, cheeks puffy. Hair pulled up taught. In her fist was a toy she was trying to hand to Aro, who was crouched in front of Sully. His face was open wide with a happy amazed smile, and his hands outstretched, having just given Bella the toy.

Everyone was happy. Even Caius, who had taken awhile to warm up to her. . . His hands were wrapped around Athena and his head leaned against her shoulder.

They all looked so content. Little Bella looked mostly oblivious, but deliriously happy. Christmas morning. It was her first Christmas with them. Before she knew what they were. She only knew them as. . . as family. Nothing more. Nothing complicated. Just family. Just. . . happy.

She touched each and every one of their faces. Lingering on Marcus. She cleared her thoughts, shaking her head tightly then hit reply.

EMAIL REPLY

 _Dear Sully and Athena (hi Felix). I don't really remember this day from my perspective. I just remember the feeling in it. Hold on just a second. - Bella_

Bella got to her feet and bolted down the stairs. Her hands rifled along the bookshelves, not sure exactly what she was looking for but she knew she would find it here. In the house where the man who lives here, lives in the past completely.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Edward stared up at the moon. The blooming flowers in the meadow looked sad under their light, different than in the fullness of the day. He had been wrestling all day and night, not moving or breathing for at least 12 hours. He kept seeing her face. Sweat dripping off of it. Panicking over an imaginary scenario. He had. . . ultimately, disobeyed what his agreement that he wouldn't come by that evening after she was attacked. . . she attacked. He only stayed a second. It took every ounce of him to leave her there. He knew that he could step in, and take it away. Turn the wrinkles in her forehead smooth, soften her lips, ease her fear. But he decided. . . he shouldn't. She should be scared of him. And she was becoming dependent on his presence. He too was becoming. . . dependent on hers. A dangerous game.

But then Alice called him while he was wallowing in the meadow. She said the four words they all had been dreading, though no one ever talked about it's posibility. Alice called him and said "I can't see anything."

It had to be her. It had to be Bella. Something in her timeline was changing, changing in a way. . . so monstrous. . . that even Alice's gift couldn't hold it. He paused outside of the house. Maybe it was his decision to stay away. Or maybe it was the realization that he could never stay away. . .

And then his heart, his cold unbeating heart, sank lower to the pit of his stomach. It was 1am and Bella wasn't in her room. Quicker than a blink, Edward had climbed into her room. She had been here recently. He could hear Charlie snoring in the room across the hallway, his dreams were foggy stillness.

He follwed her scent down the stairs to the living room. Bella was curled up on the couch. Baby pictures surrounded her, plucked from the white picture book on the coffee table and the several frames that lay empty beside it. She turned to look at him. She wiped her nose, trying to hide the tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Oh hey." She greeted.

"Hi." Edward breathed. "I'm sorry. I thought you were. . . gone."

Bella shook her head and she patted the spot beside her. "I'm sorry about the other night. I shouldn't have. . . I'm sorry. I was-"

"You're only human."

Bella barked a dark low laugh. "Yeah."

"So." Edward gestured to the pictures around her. "Getting into scrapbooking?" Bella paused and tilted her head, eyeing the laptop on the coffee table and then back to Edward. "You don't have to-. I wasn't trying to-"

Bella handed him a photo that had been laying face down on her computer. A hastily printed off photo on regular 8 by 10 computer stock. The ink was barely dry.

"I was five years old in that picture." Bella commented. Edward held his expression very carefully. Why was she showing this to him? He had seen these people only ever in Carlisle's mind. . . how odd to see them. . . in a photograph. His gut twisted. A pink plump child in the lap of the most dangerous people in the whole world. It was. . . bizarre. "It wasn't really Christmas in that picture. I was sick on the 25th. Had some kind of infection or something. It finally cleared up after a week and . . . so we celebrated then."

Edward wasn't sure what his reaction should be, so he didn't say anything. Instead, he sat down where she indicated he could and just listened.

She pulled up the older photos when she was much younger, wrapped and swaddled. Her mother, Renne holding her or Charlie trying to fit her on his forearm. Bella traced a finger on the picture of Renee. "She wanted me to know my ancestral roots. She didn't really care that I was too young to really remember anything. But I was absorbing everything so quickly and learning so fast. And she had just gotten divorced from Charlie so we traveled to Europe. I remember she was begging to be let in to some scheduled tour. They said I was too young, but she insisted." Bella scrunched her face up, trying to remember. "I remember walking down those hallways."

Edward gasped when he realized what she was explaining.

"I remember being led into a large room. And my mom squeezing my hand." She took a deep breath. "I don't remember much else." She shifted on the couch. "I was crying and I was in someone's arms. I remember how cold they were. I remember. . . Screaming." Bella shook her head. "But, I was so dissociated from it. It didn't mean anything to me. I didn't know what happened."

"I'm sorry." Edward blurted out.

Bella laughed, looking at him from slitted eyes and then shrugged. "Not your fault. And like I said. I was young and my memories of it are. . . not emotional."

"But your mom." Edward winced, staring at the face that was mirror of Bella's, but older, more reckless, more tan and weathered, but just a few more years older than the Bella in front of him now.

"Parents are the ones that raise you." Bella muttered.

"So who raised you?" Edward cocked his eyebrow, wondering how far he could go into her past. How far she would let him. She was being so vulnerable now. So open. So exposed.

"That's not the question you really want to know." Bella smiled. "You want to know _why_. You want to know why they spared me and you want to know why I'm telling you this now."

"How did you know that?" Edward mirrored her smile politely.

"I know a lot of things I shouldn't." Bella's eyes widened. "It's because of what I did in the room where I should have died." She touched the Christmas in Volterra photo again. "And I don't know what it was." Her heart rate increased. "I don't remember. But I think I'm starting to understand now. I'm not normal." Bella's face scrunched up tightly. "I don't belong anywhere."

"Bella." Edward said her name comfortingly.

"I'm sorry, Edward." A small tear escaped the corner of her eye. "I'm sorry. I was using you. You helped me. But I don't want to be like them. They just use people up until they're done with them. They only want someone if they can control them. I don't want that with you." She bit her lip. "You deserve more. You deserve better. I'm sorry."

Carefully, Edward reached his hand out and folded it over Bella's fingers. Her shoulder's relaxed and she gazed at his hand on hers, a parade of varying emotions on her face that of course Edward could only just interpret enough to know that he could keep his hand there.

"You were a pretty ugly baby." Edward grinned.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **First. What do you think of this chapter?**

 **Thank you so so so much for reading. THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING.**

 **XO XO**

 **\- Rosalie**

 **/ rosaliemchale**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

 **AN: I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've moved house and that's taken a long time and been stressful. Thank you for your patience.**

 **Thank you for reading and reviewing.**

 **xoxo**

* * *

 **Dark Mater**

Chapter 6

* * *

Demetri turned the computer around and showed Athena and Sully the baby pictures Bella had sent them. While Sully and Athena whispered to each other comparing this puffy baby to the Bella they knew, Felix touched his arm gently, to get his attention. Demi nodded and they both turned around and walked to the outer edges of Sully's chambers to give the ladies their privacy.

"Are you still mad at her?" Felix whispered under his breath. Behind them Athena and Sully laughed and gushed over the pictures.

"No. I was never mad." Demi flexed his arms out and straightened the color of his robe. "It's just. It's unlike her is all. They don't want her to be found. And. . . I don't think she does either." Demi balled his hands into fists. "I'm not used to being thwarted like that. It's still very unnerving for me to not know."

Felix grabbed Demitri's fist and straighten out his fingers, then slowly intertwined them around his own. "She's just a human."

Demitri sighed. "You know she was meant for more than that. I'd rather they just kill her and be done with it if they've changed their minds." He said darkly. "I don't understand this shipping her away business. What is that going to accomplish?"

"They can't exactly just kill her."

"They can. They should if they're through with her."

Felix glanced back at Sully and Athena. "You know they can't. Besides, what reason would they have? She trusts them completely and they adore her. Besides, I've never seen Aro more excited about her potential. She was literally raised with us. I heard Aro talking about creating a special force with her as the head. Who could be more loyal?"

Demetri shrugged. "That's why I don't like this business. I. . ." He looked at his feet. "I don't think she's safe, wherever she is."

"Is this about the call?"

"Yes." Demetri nodded.

"What call?" Athenadora rose to her feet. "What are you two whispering about?"

Felix and Demetri shared a glance to be interpreted as "now you've stepped in it."

Felix turned around first. "My pardon. We did not mean to interrupt."

"Demi thinks Bella is in danger because of some call." Athena stepped forward. "I want to know what this is about."

Sully rose too. "Aro prohibited anyone from reaching out." She glanced at the computer. "The guard. That is." She covered her own discretions. She will deal with Aro later. He couldn't be mad long at her.

"I didn't." Felix admitted. "But." He sighed. "She reached out to me about a month ago. She said she might be going into a dangerous situation and to call her back in five minutes with passwords. So I did. And she gave the all clear. It's nothing. The number she was using has been disconnected."

"Good girl." Sully nodded. They had set up "passwords" while she was growing up and going off into the human world where they couldn't follow in the daylight. They were not to be used lightly. If she had said that the foxes were in the hen house for instance, she could have triggered a massacre of humans depending on where she was. But they insisted for this system to keep her safe. There were so many dangers for her. It had always been the most pressing and hardest part. Keeping her safe. "She's always been a smart one."

"What kind of danger?" Athena clasped her arms, still concerned. It was so second nature now. She had just been staring at picture of her Bella wrapped in another woman's arms, and wondering if she recognized her face in the meal parade. She looked so much like Bella. And the man beside her. He too must have died that day. Anger and jealousy rose in her, but not an ounce of guilt for what they had done to her mother. Rarely had she given Bella's parentage a single thought. She was so much more than them. As soon as it was decided that Bella should live with them, Athena's only mission was to protect her and do what was best for her. She became part of the family. They had lost Diddyme. They wouldn't lose another. Her mission had always been the same.

"I'm not sure. She wouldn't tell me. She said it was just some misunderstanding and that she overreacted but she's fine."

When the decision was made that Bella, for her own safety, should be relocated to an undisclosed location, Athena had gone into a rage. Caius calmed her only by asking her if it was truly for Bella's sake she wanted to keep her here. If that's what was best for her, especially after the incident.

They're not drawn to drinking the blood of children. But Bella wasn't a child anymore. And as they are not accustomed to. . . controlling their appetites, it was getting harder on everyone. She was getting lonelier and lonelier and feeling shut out. Like a cursed princess locked away in a tower with a hungry dragon there, to protect her or in prison her? The lines were getting blurred.

"She's a tough girl." Sully commented. "For a human. She keeps her emotions in check. She's very calculating like, well, like Marcus. I don't think she would go through the trouble of communicating with you. . ." Sully was jealous that Bella had reached out to someone else and not her first. There must be a reason. "Perhaps to not raise alarm. But she must have felt threatened."

"But she called it off." Demi countered. "And obviously she is fine." He nodded at the computer.

"Or is she trying to protect someone else." Athena took the laptop again. This whole conversation would have to be concealed. "Delete all of these." She handed the laptop to Felix. "Smash it, if you have too."

"Why?" Felix furrowed his bushy eyebrows.

"Because it makes me sad." She lied. "I don't want to look at these anymore. And we should be obeying the order. It won't happen again." She said this to Sully. Sully knew this was for Aro. The next time they touched he would see all of this. And none of them knew if there would be consequences.

* * *

Bella stared at Edward's hand on hers and flickered her gaze up to his face. "Can I have my hand back?" She peeled her hand out from under his.

"Sorry." Edward apologized, and quickly returned his hand to his side. "Did I hurt you?"

Bella shook her head, but she had grown quiet.

"Are you tired?" He glanced at the ticking clock behind the couch. It was quite late. Later than her normal "awake" time.

Bella nodded and started to shuffle away all of the pictures. As she got to her feet, she groaned. Edward held out his hand for her to lean on, but she just stared at him mystified.

"Sorry." He folded his hands in his pockets. "I was just- sorry." He wasn't sure who to be right now: The vampire acting like a cordial normal human or the vampire who kept his distance. He knew he couldn't keep his distance anymore, and he and Bella both knew they were two entirely different beings. But he kept trying to find some middle ground. The space between supernatural and pretending. Or was this all just a big lie, and his real motives were to find reasons to touch her again.

Bella sighed. "Well, come on then." She looked up the narrow stairs leading to her bedroom. "Vampires first."

Edward grinned imagining that one of her rules was "never let a vampire trail behind you." It was spot on accurate actually. He avoided the squeaky stair, knowing the ins and outs of this house like a resident of it. Edward settled into his normal position in the chair in the corner of her bedroom. Bella used the restroom to wash her face. As she came in she stared at Edward for a moment. Hesitating. An uncertainty and curiosity in her face that Edward couldn't dissect.

Then Bella turned off the lamp and walked past Edward to her dresser. Slowly, she lifted the bottom of her shirt up and pulled it over her shoulders and head. Her hair fell back, grazing against her bra strap. She knew he could see her in the dark room, see every inch of her bare skin and could sense the blood rising to her checks and the places on her chest, but she felt safer in the dark regardless. She turned and bent over to push her jeans down to her ankles, then kicked them to the side of the room. When she unhooked her bra strap, Edward inhaled sharply, the sound lost as the bra fell to the floor in front of Bella. Then quickly, she pulled out one of the large long sleeve shirts in the top drawer and shimmied into it.

"Good night, Edward." Bella breathed. A little too out of breath, she climbed into her bed. Her shirt not quite long enough to cover her exposed panties underneath. She rolled into the cover and turned away from him.

"Good night, Bella." Edward said a little too professionally. His body had clenched up and he felt cemented into the chair. He didn't move for a long time. Hours after her breaths became unburdened and her jaw relaxed, Edward finally melted out from the chair. He was in a frazzled mindset and Bella too slept restlessly. It would be daylight soon and the sun would be out. It was time to go home. The only reason he was able to leave was knowing he would see her at school later on in the day. Every goodbye would be too much if not for a promise to return.

When he ran in through the garage door, Alice was waiting for him in the mudroom. She turned on the light, like a concerned parent catching her wayward teen sneaking back in.

"So." Alice folded her arms and looked Edward up and down at his now customary drenched clothes. "Going for another swim?"

"Yep." Edward nodded. "Helps me think. Helps me turn off." He added, pointing to his head.

Alice slitted her eyes and flared her nostrils. "I think you're lying."

"What?" Edward chortled. "Why would I lie about that?"

"I don't know but you've been weird. And I. . . I've been lost." She frowned and stared at her feet. "Everything is just gone."

Edward made a show of glancing around. "I'm pretty sure we're all still here, Alice." Alice did have a taste for the dramatic and she was rarely caught out and even more rarely put out. Edward wasn't sure how long he could keep this up. Bella had opened up more than she ever had and despite everything, he felt like she needed him. And perhaps more importantly, he was discovering how much he needed her. They were stars circling each other, destined to collide. Perhaps that is what Alice is seeing of the future. The future when Bella and Edward's stars circle in too fast and they end up exploding together leaving nothing behind but dark matter.

* * *

Charlie woke up with soft dim light coming in through the shutters. Small flecks floating in the sun spot. For a moment, it seemed like everything was peaceful and still. And then he heard the phone downstairs ringing. He checked his bedside cloak. The red analog letters flashed 00:00. Oh right. After a storm a few nights back, the power went out for three minutes. He overslept. He checked the light out the window again. He was usually up before the sun. As he threw on an old robe, Charlie grumbled something under his breath. "I'm coming, I'm coming." He said as he shuffled down the stairs. With his left hand he grabbed the phone and in his other he loosened up the cord. "Charlie Swan speaking."

There was silence on the other end. "Hello?" Charlie asked louder.

"Charlie. Oh hey, sorry, I thought you might be at work. It's Nancy from the high school."

"Oh. Hey Nancy." Charlie exhaled. "Is everything alright?"

"Is Bella. . . Is Bella not feeling well?"

"She's not at school?" Charlie glanced out the front window, he didn't see the red truck where it should have been. "Bella?" He called out and waited a moment. "Nancy, I'll have to call you back."

There was a sinking feeling in his stomach. Something was not right. "Bella?" He opened the door to her bedroom. There was the ghost of her presence. Some school books on the floor. A crumbled shirt on the bed. A pair of jeans the corner. Her bed was undone and the indent still sunken on her pillow. But Bella wasn't there.

* * *

Edward sat panicked in his first class. Bella didn't show up. He didn't hear her out obnoxious truck pull up. He didn't see her face in any of her normal friends visuals. As soon as the bell rang, he nearly jumped over to the administration office and asked if Bella had called in sick, though he could see immeaditley that they hadn't been notified as such. He had to double back and play it cool. Jasper eyed him warily across the hall. As he grabbed his books for the next class, Jasper grabbed his arm. He felt better.

"Edward." Jasper started. But Edward shook his head. _-Edward. What's going on? Alice is worried too.-_

Edward sighed. And he slammed the door to his locker.

 _-Eddie-_ Alice thought somewhere in another hallway. _-Bella's gone.-_

* * *

It was Frank's first day on the job by himself with no help. Terry was manning the computer next to him and was available if he had questions. After getting kicked out his girlfriends apartment last month, he had been living out of his car. Hopefully he would be able to save most of his paycheck to put down first month's rent for his own place.

The first customer walked up to the computer with a duffel bag on their back and thick black eyeglasses.

"Hello! Welcome to Delta. How may I assist you today?" Frank grinned, feeling a chill run through him.

A short pale hand thrusted a printed off boarding pass into Frank's grasp.

"Ah. Sure, did you need to check in? No problem at all." Frank clicked a few things into the computer. "Sorry, just a second, I accidentally hit the wrong button. Nope. No worries. Uh, here. Sorry about that." He printed off a new boarding ticket. "Did you need to check any luggage?"

The duffel bag was offered up.

"Sure thing. No problem. Just need to weigh it real quick." He set the duffel bag down and read the numbers. "Okay. Just have to. . . type this in." He clicked on a few more pop up guides. "So, traveling alone?"

The passenger said nothing in response.

"Right, well, here is your checked luggage ticket. Have a good flight. Enjoy L.A. I hear it's fine sunny weather." Frank watched as the pale hand grabbed up the ticket and then scurried away from the counter. He was supposed to be on alert if anything was suspicious. But he wasn't quite sure what counted as suspicious here. Her looked at the call button on his desk. And the button next to the passenger name still up on his screen. Anna Sinclair. Should he flag it? His finger hovered over his mouse.

Before he could make a decision the next customer walked up. And Frank sighed. It's probably nothing.

Anna provided her ID at the stop before customs. She waited, not looking at the officer.

"Can you take your glasses off, ma'am?"

Silently she removed them. She remembered to blink, but still didn't stare at him in the eye.

"Thank you. Have a good day." He handed back the boarding pass and her ID. She grabbed it without looking. She made it past customs. She boarded her flight. She put on a sleeping mask and pretended to be asleep the entire flight. She sat, waiting until everyone had left the cabin before she got up and made her exit.

The group that had already deplaned were scattered but walking uniformly towards baggage claim. But not her. She twisted on her heels and marched forward to another gate. At a corner table next to the in house Starbucks she pulled out a chair and sat down. "It's good to see you again, Bella." She said reservedly. Bella set down her cup of coffee.

"Yes. I'm glad you're here." Bella said dryly. "How is. . ."

"Alec?"

"Yes." Bella exhaled.

"Pining."

"I'm sorry." Bella folded her hands on her lap.

Jane twisted in her seat. "You're an awful lot of trouble for a human. I hope you know that."

"I do." Bella laughed in her throat. "I do."

"Aro wasn't pleased with the trick you pulled on Sulpicia."

"It wasn't a trick.-" Bella started and then shook her head, remembering her rules. Don't argue with vampires. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

"If Aro wasn't so enchanted with you, I'd kill you right here and now." Jane said casually as if discussing the weather.

"I know." Bella said taking another sip of coffee.

"I've never been a big fan of yours."

"I know." Bella nodded, an odd smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Another one of Bella's rules. Never meet with a vampire unless you have the upper hand and are willing to risk your life for it.

"So, what do I get with this great honor."

"I had a question." Bella looked at her hands. "When you all first met me in the feeding chambers." Her breath shortened. "Alec said he saved me. What did he do?"

Jane laughed. "Alec didn't save you. Alec tried to keep you quiet, but-"

"But what." Bella leaned forward. "What did I do?" This was the part that everyone had always stopped at. There was more to that sentence but no one had ever followed it through.

Jane was feeling generous, halfway deciding she may as well kill the girl while she was here so that they could all be done with this nonsense. Why lie to her now?

"Because when everyone else including your hair-brainned stupid mother fell to the ground, you looked back at Alec and he fell limp." Jane said disgustedly. "Alec only saved you because if he hadn't used his power against you, you wouldn't have been noticed at all. And you would be dead just like your mother and father. Just like you should be."

Bella blinked and took in a shaky breath. "So then it's true." A tear fell from her eye. "Then it's all true."

"What's true?" Jane asked coldly.

Dawning realization was hitting Bella far too late. "It's why he got so distant. I thought it was just. . . because I'm human." Bella was breathing harder now. "I haven't been having nightmares." Bella stood up and without a second glance dashed off through the airport. Jane tried to follow her, but she had to walk at a human pace and by the time she caught up with Bella, Bella was standing out in the golden sun and hailing a taxi.

Jane growled and a small child to her left jumped and began to cry. Jane threw herself back inside to the comfort of the shadows where she would have to wait, but come sundown, Jane was going hunting.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 **Reckoning**

* * *

"Find me." She texted from the back of the taxi. Bella had to remind herself to breath. Focus, Bella. Focus. Her life was depending on it.

"First time in L.A?" The taxi driver asked warmly. A rosary hanging from the rearview mirror swung to the side as they made a turn. "Beautiful weather as always. Could time to visit."

"No. I'm hear to meet some friends and show them around." Bella exhaled. She kept eyeing her phone, waiting for the small script "read" notice. "Can we take the 405?"

"Sure, but it's almost 8 o'clock. The traffic is going to be a nightmare."

Bella laughed. What some people think of as a "nightmare" is truly sad. "I don't mind." She glanced up at the sun. The rays painted streaks of highlights on top of all the shinning cars. "I have time." But eventually the sun will go down. And then there would be no more time. "I'm going to try to take a nap, if that's alright. I had a long flight and can never sleep on planes." She lied.

The taxi driver waved. "I'll wake you up when we get close."

As Bella settled in to the soft seat with the sweat stains of thousands of passengers, suddenly her head racked with a pinging pain. She inhaled and shut down. Slowly she relaxed, accepting it. Finding something else in the pain. In the headache. Trying to see something she never let herself to before, because she didn't know there was more to it. For so long she had been brainwashed into believing everything was normal. That this was ordinary. That she was ordinary. This was the delicate balance that the brothers had to keep her in.

She relaxed into the headache, opening up, showing her vulnerability, in return, the pain revealed itself back to her. _A darkened corridor. A long robe. Shadows of others._ And then the pain subsided. It had taken her too long to realize. They weren't grooming her to be part of the family. They were grooming her to be a weapon, but they made error in their plans.

"Find Jane." She texted Demetri again. "Come sun down I will be the red in her eyes."

Then with her eyes still closed, she shared her location to the only person she trusted with her life.

* * *

"Alec?" Sulpicia called as she made her way up the staircase. "I thought we told you not to come up here any more."

Alec nodded. His fingers lingering on all the story books in the shelf, leaving a clean strip free of dust. A weird smile graced his face. "Have you ever wanted to sleep?"

"Is that what it feels like?" She tilted her head. "I've always wondered."

"I can show you." He lifted his hand. A white milky haze gathered on his palm like mist.

"Alec. Alec, no." She backed away.

"She could do it in her sleep. Did you know that?" He walked over to the bed, a trail of white mist behind him. A barrier between him and Sulpicia that couldn't be crossed. "She was an ugly thing." Alec leaped up onto her bed. "But some nights I would stay with her. I'd lay down here." He settled himself onto the bed. "And she laid there. And I'd make her do it."

"Alec." Sully frowned. Her eyebrows knit together. She didn't know these things and she didn't want to know them know.

"And I'd pretend." He closed his eyes. "I'd pretend we were both sleeping, but I only felt nothingness." He grimaced. "I hated it. Every time I hated it. But I kept coming back. I became addicted to that feeling." He started laughing. "Punishment. Absolution. The closest thing to death that I will ever feel. One night she woke up and her startled expression made me hate myself even further. She trusted me. I never wanted to hurt her." He opened her eyes and stared at Sully. "I never wanted to hurt her. I just wanted her to know death. Even just a little bit. To feel it the way she made me." He rolled back up to a seated position. "She was afraid of death. She tried to act tough, but she was afraid. If Aro had just listened to me. . . why couldn't I just keep her?"

"Alec, we've already discussed this." Sully tried to reason, but the mist grew further, building higher onto itself.

"I gave her a second opinion." Alec sighed. "In case of emergencies, I gave her another way out."

"What have you done, Alec?"

"It was more for her peace of mind." Alec shrugged, then climbed off the bed. "If she had listened to me, then none of this would have happened and she would be alive right now. But I don't care any more." He threw the bedding onto the floor and knelt next to a floorboard.

"Alec. What do you mean? Alive right now?"

"Aro ordered Jane to kill her." Alec shrugged as he pried open the floorboard. "While she had the chance, Bella should have taken my offer-" He paused, the floor board still in his hand. Then Alec started laughing. "She did." He managed to get out between chuckles. The compartment below his foot in the floorboards was empty. "She did." Alec laughed hysterically.

"Alec. What are you talking about?"

The white mist vanished.

"Plan B." Something like hope shined in his eyes. "She may be ugly, but she may have some sense in her."

"No, Alec. Aro's order. What do you mean? When did Jane leave?"

Alec shrugged. "I don't really ask questions, madame. I thought you would report me. That you would try to send Felix in to rip open my head. That's why I told you all of this. I mean. I thought the only one who could bring me death is gone, but, Instead, change is coming. I'm sorry, Madame. Please forgive me."

Sulpicia fell to the floor, completely blindsided by the mist traveling in her direction from under the blanket he threw down.

* * *

"Just take a rotation of Tylenol and Advil every two hours to help with the pain. It'll also decrease the swelling as well. Keep it lifted as much as you can and ice it for ten minutes every hour this evening." Carlisle explained, finishing up the notes in the patient's file. "He'll be fine, Mrs. Clemmons. It's just a sprain, but it could have been worse." He reassured the ten year old's mom who was fretting in the side chair. "Be careful, son. The woods can be dangerous."

"What do you say, Adam?"

"Thanks Dr. Cullen." The boy said obligingly.

A knock came at the door. "Dr. Cullen?" Nurse Ramsey poked her head in. "Esme is on line one. Said it's urgent."

Carlisle didn't even blink or change his expression. "Excuse me, Mrs. Clemmons-Adam." As he exited the exam room, Carlisle calculated his pace to his office. A hurried walk for a human, but unbearably slow for his own kind. A pace he had gotten used to, but burdensome in this moment.

"Love, is everything alright?" Carlisle closed the door behind him. "I see."

Carlisle pulled off his white coat and threw it on the desk by the lobby. "Janet. Cancel my appointments. Call Dr. Reeves to come in early to cover the remaining hour of my shift. I have to go."

"But, Dr. Cullen." Janet tried to reply, but her words were wasted.

* * *

"How strange this residence is. An odd life you lead." Caius's hand slid down the glass wall, inspecting the shimmering light of the midday sun on his palid skin. It wasn't nearly as reflective as the more modern of his kind. "Living within a human community but letting light in. Odd." He turned towards the front of the house, his dark robe swung by his feet. Five vampires stood watching him, but soon turned towards the front as well.

The door opened and Carlisle stepped in. "Old friend, how good to see you." Carlisle smiled and reached his hand out. Caius eyed it like the glass wall. Curiously, but with a certain level of disdain. "Carlisle. It's always a pleasure."

"I'm sure introduction have already gone around, but I'd like you to meet my family."

"Yes, I've met you coven."

Carlisle winced slightly before collecting himself again. "So what do I owe the pleasure of your company? Is there-"

"Who all is yours?" Caius eyed the rest of the "coven."

Carlisle tilted his head.

"You're venom ties." Caius clarified.

"Ah, well. My wife Esme." Carlisle answered genially and went to her, wrapping his hand on hers and gripping her back comfortingly. "Then Rosalie, and I changed Emmett for her."

Rosalie bowed graciously. Emmett nodded stoically.

"Then Alice and Jasper joined us, but we're changed from others."

Caius eyed Jasper over with crimson eyes. "So you're not responsible for anyone else. There is another that lives with you, if I'm not mistaken?" He turned back to Carlisle.

"My son, Edward. He was my first. . . venom tie. He has left us to visit our friends up north." Alice had texted him on the car ride over, informing him of Edward disappearance. It was her idea for the cover story.

"Ah." Caius nodded. "Well. I have been wondering how you were doing. I would say we would love to have you again, but you seem to have all the company you need." There seemed to be some double meaning.

"Just passing through then?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes. Sorry to interrupt on such a sort notice. But yes, I won't stay much longer. I have more pressing matters to attend to. A bit of an errand."

"Oh, can we help you?"

Caius shrugged and pulled out a picture. "I just came to collect on some of our property we left for safe keeping. If you've seen it, I'd greatly appreciate it. Unfortunately, our tracker is no use on this one." Caius handed Carlisle a picture of Bella at the age of fourteen, sullen and demure, a book clutched in both hands.

"Surely she must be important if you're not sending someone else on the guard in your place. If you're searching personally, this must be something special."

"It's a delicate situation. " Caius sighed, his eyebrows arched. "Well, do you know the girl?"

Carlisle blinked out of habit. Esme squeezed his hand. "I don't know where she is." Carlisle started. "But she came into the hospital a few weeks ago." He answered as honestly as he possibly dared.

Caius scowled. "Was she hurt?"

"No." Carlisle answered. Hiding his own confusion. Was he worried about her safety, or was he asking if his job had already been done?

Caius stared out the glass window at the setting sun. "If you have any information on her whereabouts, let me know." His voice was distant. "It's better if I find her before. . . Well, let me know anything new."

* * *

"Johnny, hold hands with your sister. Johnny. No. Get out of the street!" A mother pushing a stroller yelled as they neared the red pillars of the Chinese Theatre. Bella sat in plain view, letting the high sun sear her skin. She called the number again. And again. And again.

The little battery sign went red. Bella took a deep breath and called the number again.

When a woman's voice answered Bella almost laughed in relief. "KAREN! Oh, sorry. Uh, Vorrei prenotare un tour." Bella bit her lip, remembering the pass code. "Il sole sta sorgendo e non ho chiuso occhio."

"I'm sorry Bella." The woman replied. "You've been deactivated."

"What?" Bella hissed. "I need to speak to Marcus. Karen, or whatever your name is, I need to speak to Marcus. It's urgent. Please."

"Goodbye Bella."

"No!" She yelled into her phone. "No, no. Karen. Karen. Please. They're lying to you. They're going to kill you. I've seen it. I've been with them for over ten years and I've known six iterations of humans that are in your position. They're not going to change you."

"Nice try, Bella. But Felix-"

"Felix likes to flirt with his food. It turns him on. I love the guy too, but they're all murderers and they don't care at all about you. They don't care about me either. Most of them. Listen. If you can help me. I can help you. I can hide you."

"Demetri-"

"Do what I ask and you won't have to worry about Demetri. I promise."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"You can't Karen. You can't. I'm on the other side of the world right now and when the sun goes down I will die. I know that. But you don't have to." The sound of the battery dying tickled Bella's ear.

"I don't have much time. My phone is dying. Listen. Find the wives. Tell Felix that I have a message for them."

"I don't take orders from you."

"Please. They need to know. Get the message out. It wasn't the Romanians. It w-" The phone went black.

Samantha Codswell stared at the phone in her hand giving out a dial tone. "What wasn't the Romanians?" She sighed. The girl was on the bad side of the Volturi. She was probably lying. She struggled for a moment on what to do. Eventually she shrugged on wrote down on a post it note "not the Romanians" in case it ever came up. She thought again about Felix. Of course he was a flirt, but there was something special there. Right? She was special wasn't she? They promised.

They promised.

* * *

Bella sat on the steps and watched as the horizon filled with warm colors. Orange and red. People milled about. Taking photographs with dressed up characters. Families tugging around tired toddlers. Couples who couldn't get their hands off themselves. The occasional cop talking to the churro vendor and walking away with a treat.

Bella smiled and looked up. Jane was standing across the street, under the awning of a coffee shop.

"It's a beautiful evening." Bella commented in a regular voice.

Jane tilted her head.

"You knew." Bella sighed and leaned back on her elbows. A passerby would have thought she was talking to herself. And in a sense she was. It was a one way conversation. The mouses last monologue. The cat, jaw wide, waiting to strike. "This whole time you knew. No, no. Did you do it? Is that why he favors you so much. At first I was jealous. But I understand now. You're obsession with Aro. Because you did the unthinkable for him. A secrete that would tear the Volturi apart, but her intrusted that to you. That power. You loved it."

Jane stood motionless. A family crowded around her at one point and took a picture. She didn't move. Her eyes were trained on Bella.

"Or maybe you didn't know. I'm not good with time. Perhaps it was before you're admission into the Volturi. You see. I was supposed to replace you. Is that why you hated me? Because he loved me more than he needed you." Bella laughed a dead man's laugh. "But now he needs me dead more than he loves me."

Bella stared at the orange horizon, growing dimmer and dimmer. "While I was away, I met another coven of vampires. Isn't that ironic? I can't escape you lot. But there was one who found me curious. I knew he was in my bedroom the moment he opened up the window that first night. But that night, instead of nightmares, I felt him. So eventually I asked him to stay. These nightmares. Always the same but every night a different angle. But he kept them at bay. I thought it was just his presence. But last night, I changed the tone, testing something I had been suspecious of for quite some time. I was right. I wasn't comforted by his presence, I was reading him mind. That's it, isn't it. I confirmed it again with Demetri. You haven't tried to hurt me yet. Which tells me you know it's true. Come on, Jane. Hurt me. Make me feel pain like I know you want to."

She paused and breathed in. Waiting for a pain that was never felt.

"Do you want to know what my nightmare were? It took me 13 years to figure it out. I started having them the night after Aro held me in his arms for the first time. But you already know, don't you. You know what plagues my mind. You see, the years of Aro's life, can't be contained in my human brain. So I've only been getting pieces and scraps in my subconscious. And I've finally put the puzzle together."

The last rays of the sun lowered behind the horizon.

Bella pulled out a syringe and injected it into her thigh. She winced and gritted her teeth. "I was never having nightmares, but I was seeing Aro kill his own sister, Didyme. Over and over and over again. How he planned it. How he did it. Over and over again. And for what? Caius was in on it. He knew. He gave Aro the information about the relationships that Aro needed. His own sister. He destroyed more than one life. He destroyed his best friend. He killed one of the brother's wives. He betrayed his own coven." A tear ran down her cheek. "Aro kept me because of my potential. But he sent you here now, because I'm a liability. I know too many secrets. Secrets he didn't want me to have. And now I will have to die for it."

The sun set.

Jane stepped out from the awning.

"Come on, Jane. Hurt me. Do your worst." Bella taunted. "Make me scream."

A cold hand grabbed Bella's elbow. "Walk away, Jane. She's mine." He said possessively.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do no own these here characters.**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

Reckoning Part 2

* * *

Samantha stared at the post it not on her desk. It was late now in Italy. The edges of the orange paper curled up. "Not the Romanians" was scribbled in blue pen. Bella meant nothing to her, except what she knew about her, and that was only she was no longer allowed in the Volturi ranks. She sounded human on the phone though. Not symphonic and melodic like the voices that ordered her around all day. Human. Desperate. Scratchy. Breathy. Alive. Mortal.

 _They're lying to you._

Words from a burned lip.

Words from a lip like her own. What good were lies to come from those lips, a message she was trying to get back into the group that expelled her.

"Excuse me." She stood up when a group of Vampires came through the lobby about to explore in the darkness of the moonless sky. "I have a message. From a human girl."

The tallest one in the back shifted forward. His frown a permanent fixture, sculpted by horrors long ago. Samantha cowered back for a second. This was foolish.

"From who, child?" Marcus looked past her, not seeing her, but somehow, seeing everything about her.

Samantha bowed her head. She didn't know he was among them. She was instructed not to talk to the three heads.

"The black listed girl. She called, wanting you to know that it. Well." She outstretched her hand and reveled the post it note.

She wasn't even sure if he read it. His eyes darted so fast.

"Felix. What do you make of this?"

Hushed tones spoken too quickly made Samantha step back. She had finished her work. She needed to leave now. The rest was up to fate.

* * *

Bella hugged her chest together and gritted her teeth. She barely felt the hand on her shoulder. When she did, she knew her practiced defense techniques would be useless. "Caius." Bella exhaled. "It's good to see you. I've missed you so terribly." Her lips barely moved, turning her words into knives by default.

"Jane. Not here. Not now." Caius ignored Bella, only making sure Jane would not make a move.

For a half second Bella thought the hand belonged to Edward. Caius's papery skin, left her feeling devastated but on some level releaved. He wouldn't have to suffer and he wouldn't have to watch whatever happens next.

Jane glowered. "Aro-"

"You failed Jane." Caius criticized. "You had your chance."

"I demand a trail." Bella's jaws were quacking, but she forced the words out. "Whatever I've done, whatever crimes you think I'm responsible for, I demand a high trial."

Jane squinted. "You think you'll get out of this alive by screaming 'parlay'?"

Caius remained motionless, but Jane was waiting on his word.

"I would offer you High Trial." Caius spoke. "But, I cannot. They're for vampires alone. And you my dear, are no vampire." His grip hardened and he pulled Bella up to her feet. She wobbled, her right leg shaking, while she held back tears and screams. She hid the empty syringe in her back pocket. They couldn't know.

"Is everything alright?" A members staff from the theatre came out. "She looks injured."

"I'm fine." Bella winced. _Don't get involved, it will be your death._ "Just was sitting for too long." She tried to smile, but was unsure if her lips could make the shape right now. It was only going to get worse.

"Jane. Escort our dear Bella away from here please." Caius grumbled when the employee shrieked back to her other responsibilities.

Jane's small frame picked Bella up. Her hands were so smooth, but her strength was so rough. It probably looked so awkward to see a small child practically picking up a large girl with one hand.

"Do you remember when we used to play hide and seek together." Bella's speech started to slur, and her breath came in gasps as she was moved away from the general public. "I was always so jealous of your nose. Isn't that odd. Your nose." Bella laughed, and then winced. _Keep it together._ The longer she can hide it, the better her chances are. Even though it meant her death, it felt better to get away from all those eyes, all those standby's. Caius and Jane alone could have tortured and slaughtered them in a snap of a finger. Though Caius's fighting days were long over, he was a formidable soldier, and he always would be. The reason Aro loved him so much.

"Set her here." Caius ordered and abruptly she was turned over and slammed onto the sticky wet concrete of some back alley. Bella whimpered, a rising pain bubbling up, but she suppressed it back down with all of her energy.

"Does Aro know?" Bella whispered, her fists tightening into balls. The pain she was hiding had be kept secret. "Does he know that I know what he had done?" She slid down the brick wall behind her, her legs gave out.

"I knew you always hated me." She laughed, but choked herself on the sound before it became a scream. "Aro loved you for your passionate hatred. And now you don't have to hide it anymore. Will you tell Athenadora how much you hated me when this is all over with? Or will you pretend to mourn with her? She loves me. You know that. She loves me more than you imagined. I was the one thing you never could have given her. And now you have to take me away from her. Again."

"Silence, girl." Caius frowned. "Jane. Take a walk."

"What-" Jane flashed red eyes up at her leader.

"I will not ask again." Caius briefly glanced her way.

Insolently, Jane tossed her cape around and turned out of the alley.

Caius grew closer to Bella, almost touching, then lowers onto his knees to be at the same level. "I tried to warn him of his affection for you. That it would only damage us in the end. But he never listened to me." He turned his palm over, and traced the lines of Bella's face with the tips of his fingers. So delicately, almost lovingly. "He was obsessed with your potential. He wanted you to reign by his side, you know. Aro even made preliminary plans for a celebration, adopting you, officially. Once you turned of age, he was going to change you himself. You would have been the princess of Volturi. But like with anything Aro does, it's all for show. He wanted you in his pocket. He wanted to collect you." He pushed a strand of Bella's hair behind her ear. "It's the closest form of love Aro is capable of. So yes, Aro did love you in his own way. And yes. I always hated you."

Somewhere in the distance a car screeched.

He leaned back contemplative and looked at their surroundings. "I forgot what it's like. Sequestered to dark alleys in large cities." An odd smile grew on his face as he turned back to Bella. "The first human I ever drank from looked so much like you." His hand tilted her chin up to meet his gaze. "I never noticed before now, I suppose the setting helps to awakening such old memories." His smile grew, revealing daggered teeth. "It's such a shame, you really would have made a terribly powerful vampire. You would have been such a good asset to the Volturi, but your own power makes you a threat. It's nothing personal, Bella. It's my job within the Volturi." He began to lean down, aiming for her throat. "To protect it from threats. I'll try to make this quick."

"Bella!" A voice so sweet she could almost taste the honey on it. She felt the cool breath of Caius as he was leaning in, but the sharp ripping never came. For a second, Bella thought it was over with, dead, gone, no longer able to feel or hear, or see, lifeless. It didn't hurt too much, though if it did, she couldn't feel it over the overwhelming burning spreading in her thigh. But then she blinked her eyes open. The burning continued. No not dead.

Caius was on his back, a perplexed expression on his face. Then anger rippled the lines of his papery skin, as if they would shred with a rage inside.

"What the-" Caius was launched back again. "Who are you?"

"My name is Edward Masen and you're not touching her again." Edward stood in front of Bella, defensive, blocking each other's views.

"Edward?" Bella fluttered her eyes open. Panic and relief mixed in together. "Shit. Shit." She steadied her breathing. _Keep it together._

 _"_ Bella, are you alright?"

"Why?" Bella grunted through her teeth. "Why are you here?"

"Because you needed me." Edward answered, watching closely as Caius righted himself and dusted himself off, preparing. "You didn't answer my question. Are you alright?"

Groaning, she closed her eyes again. "I will be. But you have to leave. Jane-."

"Run, Bella." Edward pleaded.

Caius flung himself onto Edward, but he saw it in his mind, dodging out of the way. Edward wasn't skilled in combat but he could see the moves in Caius's mind. He just had to keep one step ahead.

Caius nearly ran into the garbage, trying to flank Edward on the side. His reflexes hadn't really been needed in over 400 years. There was a certain thrill to this that he has missed, but he was rusty. Again and again, he tried to out maneuver Edward and gain the upper hand. Caius grew angrier each time. Edward saw it. His anger might have proved useful in his time, but not against Edward. Yet, Edward was in no way able to touch Caius. He just had to stay out of his reach. He couldn't very well attack a member of the Volturi. That would mean death not just to him, but likely his whole coven, which is why he gave his mortal was Caius even here in the flesh? He didn't understand anything, only that Bella was in danger. And this time, she couldn't fight her way out of it. Not against them. This was his playing field.

Eventually he would have to strike back, but first perhaps, he could reason his way out. Dig through his mind and find an escape route.

"Caius, is it?" Edward asked "May I ask, why you are all the way out on the West Coast of the USA?"

Caius growled, pale shimmering in the moon light, and thick robes streaking in the shadows. No intention of patronizing Edward's questions. Edward had to jump to a third story emergency stair way landing. Edward grinned. He thought this would be harder. I mean, this was one of the leader's of the whole vampire world. Praised for his viciousness and strength in combat, but he could get a lick on Edward, and he would have to bring him down in order to get through him to Bella.

The pain came from nowhere. He wasn't paying enough attention. He was focused entirely on Caius's combative moves. He didn't hear her or her mental attack. Mid air, Jane strikes him from across the alley. He crashed down, flattening a garbage can beneath him. His involuntary scream ricocheted around the brick walls.

Pain wasn't something he had experienced since his transformation. His brightest memory of his human life was forged in that pain.

The pain Jane forced onto him now, hurt almost as bad. A different pain, not burning, but sharp. Yet unyielding.

"Edward!" Bella began crawling towards his shaking frame. His screams never ended. She could still smell the sewage lining the street, but she didn't care as she raked across the parking lot. But Jane's foot slammed into the concrete in front off er next move. The road cracked and splintered.

"Let him go. He doesn't understand what's happening. He doesn't know what he's doing." Bella pleaded. She could still see his bronze hair writhing on the other side of Jane.

Jane leaned down to Bella. "For so long, I've been trying to find a way to hurt you." Jane glanced back at Edward. "Finally, someone you care about that I can destroy. Is this the one that awakened you to your own downfall, then? The one you let stay in your bedroom?"

Jane never moved, but Caius was closing in on Edward. It would just take one snap to rip his head off, and that would be the end. Bella had watched them do it from the gallery before, desinsentizing herself to this life. Not him. Not him. There wasn't anything she could do except charge.

"No." Bella with a gigantuam amount of effort found her feet by some miracle, though she could no longer feel them. She dove behind Jane, but Jane's small arm caught her easily.

"Did you think you could ever stop me? Ever get passed me?" Jane smiled sweetly, but her lips curled. "I'm going to make him suffer the way I want to make you suffer."

But Bella wasn't trying to get away from her. Just block her vision.

Jane wasn't smiling anymore. In the next second she crumbled, folding in on her self. Her horrible screams scared nearby pigeons from the roofs above. Her body trembled. Caius paused, looking up to see what had happened.

"I'm. Going. To. Kill. You." Jane said between her teeth. Jane had tried to hurt Bella, but her power deflected back. It was just enough time for Edward to escape the shackles of torment and right himself, before Caius swung in with his arms ready to rip his head off.

Jane dusted herself off again, then grabbed Bella's arm. She didn't let go but increasingly strengthened her grip, watching Bella's reaction, to see the pain on her face as she slowly crushed her bones. Each snap or tear, should have elicited a gruesome reaction. Jane was hoping the stress of it would make her eye ball pop out, like it did that one time in Barcelona. However, Bella seemed impervious. She didn't even blink or gasp or tremble in response to the new pain. Jane grabbed her other arm and bent it back until it snapped. Bella's eyes remained closed, and her breathing, though it was staggered and struggling, remained consistent.

Jane's forehead creased. "How?" She didn't know that Bella was already swimming in a lake of fire. Any new amount of pain inflicted was quite literally just a drop in the bucket.

Edward swooped in trying to force Jane to stop, but all it took was a snap and Edward was writhing back on the ground. His efforts futile. He couldn't stop Jane from picking Bella apart limb by limb.

Caius smoothed his hair back. "Destroy them. Enough playing with your food."

Bella collapsed onto Edward. Her hand finding it's way to his mouth. "Shhhh." She couldn't stand his screaming. Not when she was trying so hard to hold it back. Edward bit down reflexively. He tried to kiss her hand, he wanted to, but the pain in his head and the dry thirsty ever constant need for blood in his throat changed his course.

"Venom can't save you now." Jane grabbed her neck and held her up. Bella's legs dangled in mid air, kicking to find the earth.

The last thing Bella saw was a fog rolling through. Then she was flung back to the earth, dropping so heavily, she thought she might shatter the crust of the earth with her weight.

No one was moving. No one was screaming. Everything fell silent. Edward. Jane. Caius. There were all motionless on the ground. Eyes glassy. Lost in some trapped corner of their mind.

And then she found Alec, leaning on the wall, motionless too. His ability rebuffed against him. A piece of white paper fell out of his hand. Bella could hardly read it behind the fire that raged on inside of her. A fire that Alec's own venom had started before they had even entered the alley. His childish round features made it look like he was nearly napping.

 _Stand behind me._

"ALEC!" Jane screamed. Since Alec had been knocked out his power over everyone else had dissipated. Bella quickly dove behind Alec, understanding his meaning.

As soon as she was outside of the fog, Alec opened his eyes, red gleaming jewels.

"Jane, dear, my lovely sister." Alec curved his mist to cut out a hole for Jane, Edward and Caius went back into a trance. "How wonderful to see you."

"I have to kill her, love." Jane reasoned. "Orders are orders, my brother."

"Things are changing. You don't feel it?" Alec countered. They stood looking straight at each other, down the barrel of each other's guns. Twins, formed in more ways than one together. They've been protecting each other for over 600 years, but now their weapons were aimed at each other. "She's changing it. Aro will be finished. His orders mean nothing."

"She will be dead, Alec. She will change nothing." Jane promised.

Alec laughed and he sounded like a school boy giggling at something naughty. "Oh, but she is changing, Jane." Alec glanced behind him to see Bella's gritted teeth, her arms hung uselessly by her side. Every time she breathed, a whine of pain escaped. "She's so much older now." He commented.

"She doesn't love you, Alec." Jane huffed. "She never will."

"She's mine, Jane. I'm changing her. I will be responsible for her. She'll have to follow me." Alec's smile widened.

"She's not a toy, Alec." Jane argued. "Besides, she cares for someone else. Her hand. Do you see it? Bite marks from this one. I guess, if she does happen to live, you'll have to fight over which one she was transformed by. She loves him, you know. I can tell. It's pathetic. He tried to save her, but he's weak."

Alec tilted his head. "What? Another?" He stepped forward and made the mist swirl away to reveal Edward's motionless body. "Well, I'll kill him too."

"Too?" The fog started to creep in towards Jane. "Alec. Stop. Stop this." Jane leaped into the air. "Fine. If you wanna play this way."

Alec crumbled to the floor.

Released from the mist. Caius and Edward reawakened. Edward immediately darted to Bella's side. He picked her up and rounded the corner. "I'll take you far away from here." Jane attacked him immediately. They both fell forward, Bella rolling into a pile of garbage.

Then the pain was gone from Edward's head. The screams he heard belonged to Jane. A vampire he didn't recognize or hadn't heard enough about appeared and had his arms wrapped around Jane's neck.

"Felix. I'm on Aro's orders." Jane kicked. "I'll hurt you too."

"I'm on Marcus's orders." Felix squeezed, a crack formed in Jane's neck. Caius threw Felix off of Jane, or tried to. His grip on Jane was too strong and they both crashed into the side of the building.

The space was filled once more with fog.

Alec walked slowly towards the mangled bodies of Felix and Jane. He pulled them apart, further splitting the crack in Jane's neck as he wrangled Felix's hands off of her. "Get. Off. My. Sister." Alec growled, throwing Felix into a curve spin.

"This is madness." Edward muttered. He picked Bella up in his arms once more. Jane was still in the fog. He could leave.

"Bella." Another voice.

Edward didn't have to turn around. He could tell who it was just by the tenor of his thoughts.

Demetri.

"I-" Edward eyes went wide. "I'm-"

"In love with her. She told me." Demetri's determined face didn't change. "Let me." His arms outreached. Edward carefully handed over Bella's body into Demetri's arms. He wasn't going to hurt her. He could see that much in his mind.

"Child." Demetri combed her hair back.

"Marcus." Bella's eyes opened. She struggled to breath. Every word spoken fanned the flame inside her. Her hand wrapped out Demetri's shoulder. "Didyme."

"Didyme was murdered by her brother. By Aro. I'm sorry. I should have known earlier. I didn't put it together. I'm sorry." She coughed. "It was all just a set up. He lied to everyone. He lied to you. He murdered Marcus's wife."

Edward spoke quietly. "And now he's trying to have Bella killed."

Demetri turned towards the back and forth of powers happening in the alley. "I will not allow this." He held Bella back out to Edward. "Stay with her. Take her far away. Do not leave her side. I will find you when this is over." Demetri's red eyes turned to slits. "I have been fighting the wrong wars my entire life. Today I will make it right."Demetri threw off his cloak and squared his shoulders to Caius. "Protect her."

He didn't need another word. Edward ran, the screams left behind him he couldn't distinguish. Sirens sounded in the distance. So much screaming would have alerted the police. Would it be a stalemate. Would there be a massacre. What would be left of the Volturi. Edward didn't care. His only objective was to take Bella far away from this. If he could hide her away for three days, she would be much easier to protect. Much less breakable. Soon the venom would be in her heart. And he could relax just a little, but until then, he had to run.

When the intense mental voices of the Volturi faded behind him, he pulled out a phone and called Alice.

She picked up immediately. "I know what you need. It's already waiting for you. I'll send you the directions. I've already told the pilot to ignore the sound of screaming."

"Thank you, Alice."

"Next time, don't lie to me."

"I won't."

"How is she?"

"Changing." He hung up.

He arrived at a private airport. A jet with lights on was ready in the taxi. He loaded her in and slipped into the seat next to her.

She muttered, pain etched in her face. "It will end. This will end. I promise. I'm right here. I'll never leave. I'm here. It'll be over soon." The safest place for Bella was in the air. The Volturi were tearing themselves apart. In the aftermath, when the dust settled, Bella would arise and it would be time to take her home.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Characters are not mine.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

Ashes Ashes

* * *

"Where are we going?" Athenadora demanded, but she fled quickly with Sulpicia by her side. They ran through the old corridors of the the inner maze of the vulture catacombs, that sprawled beneath the Italian city. After she was attacked by Alec in the tower, the remaining guard left in Italy were on high alert, awaiting news from the other side of the world. Their best defenders had been sent out, commanded to, or by their own volition.

"Aro says the safest place for you is down here." Chelsea finally stopped. "You'll be out of harms way here." The door behind her was rusted iron. Drips of sewage and blood from the feeding chambers above trickled down the blackened walls. Chains lined the floor of the walls. Old pikes stood on either side of the room, holding waxed wood. Various metal devices hung on the walls and on a broken down table. The old torture chambers.

"How long do we have to stay here?" Sulpicia turned around elegantly, showing no amount of worry or disdain.

"Until Aro so." Chelsea nodded for them to get in.

"What about Bella?" Sully whispered. The thought slipping out in a silly hush.

"She is no one to you." Chelsea stared into their eyes, longer than comfortable. The sentence echoed unnervingly in the chamber.

 _No one_

 _no one_

 _no one_

 _And it felt so good to let go of her. So easy._

A loud clank settled in the walls behind them as the door closed. Chelsea stood guard on the other side. A sliding bolt clunk into place. Athena and Sully shared a glance. They were locked in from the outside.

The makeshift sisters clasped their hands together.

* * *

"How long can they stay airborne?" Jasper asked, or was about to ask as Alice finished hot-wiring a Ferrari at the airport in Brussels. Edward had carried Bella aboard a small aircraft about 28 hours ago. It was flying across Europe no, circling the Greenwich time zone.

"Not much longer. But that's not why we have to hurry." The car roared to life under her fingertips. "We have to catch her."

"Catch her?" Jasper's furrowed anxious expression briefly changed to puzzlement before settling on worried again.

"Get in. Now." Alice ordered. She wasn't going to ask again. Even now, Jasper indulged himself in the tiny fury in Alice. She was terrifying and he loved her for it. He obeyed, slipping into the passenger seat.

"I love you too." Alice grinned as she gunned it, and they flew out of the parking lot.

* * *

 _-This is the part where she'll remember now. Lucid enough for thoughts.-_ Edward glanced at his watch. Carlisle had done this four times. Created a small sample size and choreographed the science of the eternal transformation. His hand roamed down to her wrist, grazing the bite mark left there. Reflexively, Bella crushed her hand onto his, craving his cold skin on hers.

Bella's eyes fluttered open. "Hot." She muttered, exhausted. Bella surprised herself that she still had vocal chords at all and not charred husks of flesh tying her to the rest of her ashes that lined the crevices of whatever luxury seat she was supposed to be in.

 _-I'm sorry.-_ "I'm sorry." _-I didn't want this for you.-_ "I didn't want this for you."

Bella groaned. "Stop." Her finger shook.

 _-Talking?-_ "Talking?"

"Thinking." Bella grunted. "Stop thinking." She rolled over, forcing her way out of Edward's hold on her. Her heart was racing, faster than her human body could sustain, but forced to from the venom. Sweat glistened on her skin, soaking through the fibers. She writhed on the floor.

A tiny ding interrupted and the "seat belt sign" blinked overhead.

 _-What-_ "What do you need?"

"Fucking shoes." Bella hissed. Edward suddenly understood that there was in fact, a reason she was dragging her leg across the carpet repeatedly.

"Let me help." Edward knelt by her feet and took her shoes off. And her socks. "Did that help?"

Bella cried, a sob wreaking through her torso. "No."

She'd seen it. She knew what to expect. She watched some of the "Karens" go through the agonizing process, just to be killed off before they completed it. They were going to kill them anyway. Caius decided she should watch what its like to go through the process of eternal transformation. They hadn't added anyone to their ranks from a new human in centuries. The only way she could learn was on these "experiments."

Torture is what it was to the poor women. Pure. Torture. For Bella's benefit.

She heard their cries in her head sometime when it gets to quiet. Like ghosts haunting her memories, bringing forth the wretched sound. She'd heard the sounds of humans dying, bleeding out for the immortal to feed on. Like sandpaper on wood, it shaped her world view. Normalizing the horror til it wasn't anything she was afraid of. But the sounds the women made while venom coursed through them. . . that she never could internalize.

And the experiments, to prepare her for it herself, were in vain. Nothing could have prepared her for it. She thought she knew, but it was the difference between lighting a candle in the dark and being burned by the full oppressive light from the sun. How could she have ever been ready.

She tried desperately to not make a sound, each time the fire inside of her burned out a scream, she heard Edward beside her in anguish too. She couldn't get a moment without pain to steady herself, wave after unending wave, one starting before the last one ended and she couldn't stop herself from feeling it. From reacting. From watching Edward try to deal with it beside her.

His presence, an immense relief. she knew she should feel sad that he was with her, that she couldn't guarantee they'll make it out alive, but, just like the unending fire, she knew she loved him and she just had to accept it.

But right now it was just too much to handle. "I can't." Bella shook her head, or tried. her neck just flopped her head from side to side. She had no control over her movements. Her eyes fluttered again. They were milky, a fog blocking out the deep brown, changing them on the cellular level.

 _-Can't what?-_

"Live like this." Bella pulled at her clothes. "So. hot.' She touched her throat and her finger nails dug into her skin, as if to rip herself apart.

"Bella." Edward grasped his hand over hers. "You're halfway there. I know. It's horrible. But then it will end. I promise and it feel so good." The moment after his heart stopped beating, was a wild confusing, maniacal high. Freeing. Powerful. Painless. "I'm here."

Bella pulled Edward on top of her. Edward felt some type of way from her struggling, her hands ducking her his shirt. Her hands, flushed and hot. His head snapped back. _-Right. She's overheated.-_ "Here." Edward pulled his shirt off and Bella nuzzled into his chest, pressing every part of her that she could manage to the parts of his cold skin. It helped. A little. Nominally, but it was better than nothing. He tried to imagine what this would have been like, had she not been in a horrifying body transformation. Had they not been fighting for their lives. Had they just been normal. He imagined, it must have been nice.

After another hour, the effects wore off. His skin warmed under hers. Belled kicked herself away, sitting up against the right side of the plane. She was much stronger than she was a few hours ago. Edward actually felt it. The engine hummed beneath her. She imagined the head from the engine rising, from beneath her. The jets on either side. The fire blazing. The wind wiping it away.

Edward stood up and tried to mess with the dials of the air vents. While fiddling, oxygen masks popped out from the over head compartments. His hair flapped towards the left hand side of the plane.

* * *

Alice jerked off the side of the road. They had been driving for a few hours and were in the countryside. A herd of sheep baaa'd at them as they broke through a fence. Alice wheeled the car into a corn field. "Here!" She declared throwing the car into park." She and Jasper lept out of the car with so much grace, no one would guess their mission beyond being late for a dance. Jasper crouched down, bending his knees, getting into position. "Tell me when."

"I'll count you down." Alice rubbed her temples. Above they could hear a plane approaching. Jasper glanced at Alice. She shook her head. It grew louder. Still no.

Alice nodded. "Three." She paused. "Two." Another pause, this one more careful. Her eyes flung open. "JUMP NOW!"

Jasper leaped straight up into the air, using every amount of force available. Flexing all of his physical prowess, he launched himself into the air.

"Arms!" Alice shouted below. Jasper looked up just in time. A bundle of Bella fell into his arms. He swung her down and back up again, so the momentum wouldn't break her.

"Hello Bella." Jasper smiled, showing all his teeth. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Bella!" Edward yelled through the air. A thud on the ground announced his arrival, a few hundred yards away. "Oh my god."

Alice sat on top of the Ferrari and crossed her legs. "Hi Eddie. She's a real fire cracker. I like her." She grinned and winked at him.

"What were you thinking?" Edward ignored Alice and Jasper and retrieved Bella back into his arms. "You're not immortal yet. You can't just jump from-" Jasper gripped his shoulders. _-Easy Edward. You just have to let her experience it the way she needs to. You can't argue with her. You can't reason. Let her be.-_

Edward had forgotten that, Carlisle, the creator of four vampires, Jasper was the director of armies of new vampires. If anyone could handle her transformation, it would be Jasper. He felt somewhat calmer with him here, and not just because of his abilities.

"Alice." Bella breathed. Her eyes fluttered open. Red seeping into. the milky haze, breaking up the fog. "Seer." She whispered. Not a question, but a statement. Her hand fell open towards Alice. Hesitantly, keeping eye contact with Edward, Alice set her fingers onto Bella's palm. They had barely spoken together, but Alice always wanted to be closer, but this seemed more like business than an act of friendship.

"Ah." Bella closed her eyes again, and her expression was once more of pain. But now there was concentration.

"You can let go." Jasper touched a pinky to the space behind her ear. She was barely human now. Her smell was external, the remnants of her human life layered on her skin. Neither human nor vampire, but somewhere in the middle."You don't have to try to be anything."

"No." Bella shook her head and spoke through gritted teeth. "I have to be everything."

* * *

Heidi led Samantha toward the throne room. She was used to the human pace, but with the current atmosphere, she set it too fast and Samantha kept tripping to keep up.

"Am I in trouble?" Samantha cleared her throat, trying to remain professionally calm but doubt seized her mind. At least they weren't going to the feeding room.

"No." Heidi breathed. "We need your services here." She opened up the door. Aro was pacing back and forth. He turned and smiled charmingly as soon as the door opened. The three thrones beside his were empty. The were no guards lining the room. There was no Alec or Demetri or Chelsea. It was only Aro.

Samantha bowed politely. "How can I be of assistance, sir?"

"A storm is blowing from the west. And you are going to hold up our umbrella, my dear." Aro patted her shoulders, remembering not to kill her. "Caius and. . . " Aro paused. "And the rest will be arriving back soon." He paced back to his throne and rubbed his finger on the arm rest.

Heidi cocked her head to the side. "And Marcus?"

Aro slide his eyes to Samantha and back to Heidi. "Unfortunately, he is not coming back, Heidi. If you see him. . . you are to kill him. Is that clear?"

Heidi froze for just a moment. "Crystal." She replied then walked back out of the throne room.

* * *

Alice and Jasper conversed in hushed tones, sitting on a couch from one of Rosalie and Emmett's house they used for their last honeymoon in the countryside of Greece. They politely ignored the dents in the walls and floors. There was a new fire in Alice's eyes and she was trying to explain everything to Jasper. Edward paced in front of them. He didn't know what to do with his hands. At one point pulling on his hair, another checking his shirt again, smoothing the collar.

Everything and everyone stood still as Bella opened the door. Her feet still bare, she stepped confidently into the living room. Alice had found a silky kimono for her to wear. It touched the ground as she walked past. A vision in red, the color of her eyes. Bright. Deadly. The soft silk of the robe delicately showcased her now impenetrable and angular body underneath.

Edward opened up his lips. He was absolutely knocked sideways with her beauty, with the way she carried herself. She placed a finger on his lips, still gliding forward. "It's not the time for that." She slid her finger to his cheek and hesitated. "I have work to do." She continued her path outside.

"You need to hunt." Jasper walked by her side as they felt the crunch of the gravel driveway beneath their feet.

"That will have to wait." Bella frowned. Her lips twitched, her body rebelling against the idea of _waiting._ After her heart stopped beating, she wanted time alone. To get to know her new self. To resolve herself for what she had to do next. Nothing would get in her way. Not herself especially.

"You can't possibly ignore the new cravings for too long. You'll drive yourself mad." Jasper argued.

"Carlisle did it." Bella shrugged. "I'll drink when I'm done." She took in a deep breath and smelled the air, finding the direction she needs. Burning desire racked her chest. She was free of pain. This was just a nuisance compared to the burning fire of the transformation. This she could handle.

"Done with what exactly?" Edward asked, nervous about the answer.

"Done with what I've been trained to do my whole life." Bella began pulling her hair up into a high pony tail. "Protect the Volturi."

Alice stepped forward. "Here. Let me." Alice began braiding Bella's hair down each side, joining the brides together and twisting them up into a intricate pattern. her fingers worked so quickly she was done in four seconds. Bella stopped breathing, and froze at her touch. Then softened as she realized what Alice was doing. This was the hair style Didyme wore. Bella nodded her gratitude and continued her march forward.

* * *

Caius stomped through the entrance of the throne room, opening up the door with a loud crack. A constant snarl ripped through him. His face was cracked, like a broken mirror. Splinters of his skin like spider web veins. Behind him, Alec shuffled in, carrying his sister Jane on his back, keeping her in the fog. Her neck was splintered like Caius's face. He kept her down for her own good and to keep them from fighting again. He was puzzled to see Aro still there. Caius stepped his hand onto Aro's outstretched palm. Aro took a moment and then breathed. "Ah. Well. You're failure shall be a lesson, won't it." Aro smiled.

"Have your fortified the corridors?" Caius arched his eyebrows.

"No." Aro smiled. "I want them to come. He thinks he can overthrow us with her? I will show him he is nothing without us. Nothing. Even at our weakest he won't be able to win." He giggled. This was all just a game to him.

Caius cursed but made no more remarks.

They braced themselves. Ready to receive Marcus and Bella through the doors next. When they did finally open, they weren't expecting who walked in.

Athenadora and Sulpicia, fury in their eyes, glided into the throne room.

Caius and Aro blinked.

"Ladies, my love, what are-" Aro's fake smile fell.

He stood and reached out his hand as is custom, but none of them budged. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"

"You lied to us." Athenadora hissed. Sulpicia held her hand and stepped forward. "As the highest ranking members of the Volturi we are here to try two cases of treason before the court."

"Treason?" Aro cocked his head. "Well, surely you mean of Marcus's disappearance."

Sulpicia took a deep breath and stared at her husband, her eyes cold, her mind steadfast, her heart breaking. "I, Sulpicia, of the Volturi, condemn the accused, Aro of the charges of Treason, for killing one of his own and hurting the Volturi."

Athendadora closed her eyes and stepped forward. "I, Athenadora, of the Volturi, condemn the accused, Caius" her voice broke only for a second. "For the charged of Treason set before him. For murdering a member of his own coven and taking away the soul love of one of the three heads of the vulturi."

Aro laughed. "Oh, this is so cute. My my, my loves. Whatever has gotten into your heads. Where is Chelsea?"

Behind them, Bella kicked the door open. Not human Bella. Not cute and amusing and fascinating Bella. But the weapon Aro had been training her for for all these years. Bella dragged the body of Chelsea behind her.

"And Bella. How lovely to see you. My, you are radiant aren't you. And ah, yes. Chelsea. Well, it appears the person in charge of treason my love is behind you. There, see. Bella is the wicked one, hurting our company. Besides, there has to be a unanimous agreement on charges. And you only have two votes."

Marcus stepped from the shadows and joined Bella. "I, Marcus of the Volturi, hearby condemn Aro and Caius on the charges of murder and treason. For killing my wife. And taking away the only person that meant anything to me in this damned world." The words he spoke with were so resonant with more emotion he had shown in a millennia, all bottled up and echoing in the room now.

"This is madness." Caius stood. "You can't touch us." He prepared to fight again. "You have no army. Everyone is dead. You still have to kill us and we still have Alec and Jane."

Bella shifted forward, standing in front of Athena and Sully. "I, Isabella. Daughter of the Volturi, condemn Caius and Aro to death on the charges of treason and murder. And I, daughter of the Volturi, will be the hand of this sentence. And now, the witnesses." Bella held a hand out to the door. Edward, Alice, Jasper, Demetri and Felix filed in. they lined the walls, their backs pressing against the stone.

Caius shook Alec. "Go." He ordered.

Alec dropped his sister and ran out into the middle of the room. He stared at Bella, in awe as she glided towards him. Her started to spin a fog up, but then stopped. He wasn't sure what Bella could do now. She was already so powerful as a human. Bella held out a hand.

"You don't have to die." She offered. "But if you stand in my way, I will not hesitate."

Alec thought for a second. A second too long. Jane snarled and jumped in front of him. "You bloody bitch." She screamed. "I'll end you." She thought the words of pain into Bella, but like always, she didn't even flinch. "Then I'll kill him." Jane pointed at Edward who leaned on the wall, casually. Sure of himself and of Bella. She thought of pain and torment again. But Nothing. Edward smiled and winked at her.

"No!" Jane screamed. She tried to hurt anyone. Everyone in the room.

Bella walked past her and patted her on the shoulder. "You have no power here."

Jane screamed and charged Bella. She crumbled before she could get close enough to breath on her. Pain etched on her face. A silent scream on her mouth. Bella continued forward toward Caius and Aro.

"Let's just talk this through, shall we." Aro grinned. His eyes darted around the room, trying to find an escape. "We haven't had a chance to defend ourselves." With Bella's enhanced strength, there was no contest for physical power.

"I am truth." Bella spoke, in such a melodic voice it was as if she were chanting a spell. "I am justice. And I am here to right the wrongs that you have committed in the name of the Volturi. We are here to establish order and keep the world of vampires safe. You have committed a crime against this company. You will pay the price now as you should have then."

"Athenadora. Sulpicia." Bella called behind her. "Permission?"

"Granted." They said in unison.

Three seconds later, after a whirlwind of movement, anguish, speed, power struggles. Aro and Caius fell from their thrones. Athena and Sully stepped over their bodies and took their place on the thrones. Marcus took his seat.

Bella stood beside them.

"The Volturi have always and will always protect the world order. To keep the vampires safe from the light of the day in the human world. And it will continue to do so. I, Athenadora,"

"I, Sulpicia"

"I, Marcus" and then he nodded at Bella. She blinked. He nodded at her. Athena and Sully agreed silently to.

"And I, Isabella, vow to keep the peace within the vampire world. To make sure that across the world, our existence is safe and secret. To protect and look out for one another and to do so in truth and justice."

She shared a glance with Edward, and she smiled. For the first time, feeling lucky to be alive. This was a new world and they would face it together.

From that day forward, the world acknowledged the new four heads of the Volturi.

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading and reviewing!

xoxoxo

\- Rosalie


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